The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has announced a scheduled shutdown of its water treatment plant in Aluva for Wednesday, as part of annual maintenance. This closure is expected to lead to water scarcity in tail-end areas for at least a week, even though supply will resume immediately after the work is completed.
Details of the Shutdown
According to KWA's official communication, the maintenance works will be finished by 6 pm on Wednesday, and water supply will be resumed right away. However, it will take approximately one week for the water to reach tail-end areas once the plant is shut down. KWA sources explained that while supply to areas with main pipelines will be restored quickly, regions further away will experience delays.
Affected Areas
The shutdown will disrupt water supply to several regions, including Kochi corporation limits, Aluva, Kalamassery, Eloor, and Thrikkakara municipalities. Additionally, panchayats such as Edathala, Keezhmadu, Choornikkara, Cheranelloore, Mulavukad, Elamkunnapuzha, and Njarakkal will also be affected.
Importance of Maintenance
KWA officials emphasized the necessity of the annual maintenance work. An official stated, "We need to complete repair work, especially those related to electrical parts, before monsoon. If we fail to carry out such works, it may lead to power failures due to the formation of fungus on electrical tools causing short circuits. Last year, we didn't carry out the annual maintenance and had to face failure of a lot of devices during the monsoon due to short circuits."
Pre-existing Water Shortage
Several areas in the city have already been facing an acute shortage of potable water since the summer peaked. Councillor Henry Austin highlighted the issues in regions like Pachalam and Vaduthala, noting that the situation has worsened over the past five days. "Water supply to areas like Pallikavu Road and by-lanes, SSKS Road, Swagath Road, Assisi Lane, and Chinmaya Crossroad has been completely cut off," he said. "We supply water using tanker trucks in these areas. As the trucks won't go to the by-lanes, people have to collect water from trucks using pots." Austin also mentioned that a pipe-laying work under the Amrut project is under way, which is believed to have caused leaks in the pipelines.
