Brace up Bangaloreans, taps may run dry today

Water supply is likely to be affected in almost all parts of the city on Thursday, due to a power shutdown at the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation  Limited (KPTCL) grid at Somanahalli.

South Bangalore would be the worst affected. The area may experience water shortage for two days.

Due to massive power leakage through an old transformer at a 220KV power station in Somanahalli, 52 water pumps of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had to be shut down for an hour on Wednesday, the board said. “Due to the power shutdown at the Somanahalli KPTCL grid, all three stages of Cauvery pumps were stopped from 2pm to 5pm on Wednesday.Due to this, water supply may be slightly affected in all parts of the city on Thursday,” a BWSSB spokesperson said.

Chief engineer of the BWSS BT Venkataraju said the power leakage would gravely affect water supply to South Bangalore.

“The pumps work on a 48-hour cycle. If they are shut down for more than two hours, it will take 48 hours to normalise the water flow through distribution lines,” Venkataraju said.

Govind Rao, executive engineer (east) of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) confirmed the power leakage. He added that the BWSSB was informed of the problem before the power company carried out the maintenance work.

Besides the power leakage at Somanahalli, the Namma Metro construction work would also make the city taps run dry.

“The metro has informed us of its construction work under the Kanakpura Road. We have to turn off the pumps for three to four hours to protect our infrastructure, and also worry about getting the pumps working after the metro work. Hence, there could be a scarcity of water in South Bangalore for the next 48 hours,” Venkataraju added.