Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has restored the water supply in the capital city after four days. The Kerala Water Authority has completed the work on changing the alignment of pipelines as part of the Thiruvananthapuram - Kanyakumari railway doubling works. The authorities said that the pumping of drinking water from Aruvikkara has started. Water supply will be restored in the low-lying areas of the city within the next two hours. Water will be available in elevated areas and other parts of the city where distribution is done from Iranimuttam by Monday morning. 

The authorities had earlier planned to resume pumping by evening, however, a minor landslip at the project site delayed the work as the earth had to be cleared manually. The city witnessed one of the worst drinking water crises in the past four days after the pumping was halted to complete the shifting of transmission lines at two sites in the city.

The corporation supplied 25.9 lakh litres of water in affected areas and operated 662 loads. The supply was disrupted in 43 wards in the city.

Water supply was interrupted in the city due to the work related to the re-routing of transmission lines. Though the KWA claimed that the work would be completed by 4 pm on Sunday, a fault in the alignment of the pumps reportedly delayed the work. By 9.30 pm, the fault was fixed and the water supply was restored. Mayor Arya Rajendran said that people residing in low-lying areas would get water within one hour and 30 minutes, while at least 3 hours would be taken to pump water to high-lying areas.

Amid the water crisis, the district authority has declared a holiday for all educational institutions including professional colleges in the corporation limit on Monday. However, this holiday will not impact the ongoing admission process in the colleges.

The plan was to complete shifting of pipes and start pumping by evening. However a portion of earth caved in at the site of work. This was removed manually which delayed the pumping works according to the KWA authorities. At least 43 wards have been affected by the water supply disruption.

As part of railway doubling works, transmission lines are being shifted in two places; on CITU road near Karamana and near Sasthri Nagar at Kunchalumoodu. The transmission line runs from Aruvikkara to Iranimuttom reservoir.

The work, which began on September 5, was originally scheduled for completion by September 7. The issue occurred when the valve was installed and an attempt to reopen the supply line for the PTP-Thirumala zone was made. A technical glitch caused leakage, and pumping had to be stopped. The supply from Aruvikakra was again shut down, and water that had by then filled the pipe had to be pumped out again. This process was completed by Saturday night and the work resumed in full swing by Sunday morning.

The work on shifting the 500 mm line at Kunchalumodu has been completed. At present the work on main line; 700 mm transmission line is going on. "We don't have the provision to block the water supply at selected places hence the whole line from Aruvikkara was blocked. Though we tried to block the supply near the railway line and ensure pumping to other places, we detected leakage following the installation of the valve. Water was flowing downstream where the shifting works were underway. Hence, pumping had to be stopped. We plan to start charging by noon today; within 10 hours, water will reach elevated places. Supply will be restored by night,” said a senior KWA official.

KWA usually supplies water from the 24 mld plant at PTP Nagar to core areas of the city. However, this supply was also disrupted, following which the crisis became acute. The city corporation and KWA have been supplying water to affected areas using tankers. Residents, however, said that this barely addresses actual needs and demanded immediate completion of works.