Power cuts, maintenance works affect Bangalore's water supply

The chief of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board on Thursday expressed helplessness in ensuring the supply of Cauvery water to city homes citing frequent power outages.

BWSSB chairman PB Ramamurthy said the board had already taken up the matter with the Karnataka Power Transmission Company Limited (KPTCL) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom).

“We are aware of these frequent power outages causing difficulty to our customers. We have been talking to the KPTCL and Bescom and they are trying to fix the problem,” Ramamurthy said.

The Bescom had a day earlier said that water supply to many parts of the city, especially South Bangalore, would be affected, due to a shut down at the 22kv power station in Somanahalli.

The power shutdown affected 52 mega power water pumps, which have been supplying water to the city.

These 1500 horsepower pumps work on a 48-hour cycle. If switched off for at least five minutes, the water supply to the city would be affected.

Meanwhile on Kanakapura Road, the BWSSB would shift some of its pipelines to facilitate the metro construction.

“We will have to shift some of the lines on Kanakapura Road. We have to shut down the power to some pumps. It would take some time for water to gush into the lines. But there is no scarcity of water,” Ramamurthy said while inspecting the maintenance work being carried out in front of Nimhans on Hosur Road.

On the replacement of old pipelines in Lakkasandra with new ones, the Ramamurthy said the board was willing to take up the work a year ago itself.

“But the police did not give us the go ahead since the traffic on this stretch is heavy and many other roads are blocked due to other major works. They have given us 20 days time and I am sure to finish it within the deadline,” the chairman said.

The work on this stretch has been divided into six phases. All phases, except one would be to replace the old pipelines, while the remaining one would be to replace a sanitation line.

A 3-km stretch between Dairy Circle and Wilson Garden (third cross) has been dug up for the work.

“These six pipelines are 40 years old and due to massive leakages we have been losing 50,000 litres of water a day, affecting 500 people,” Ramamurthy said, adding that the new pipes would have a life of 50 years.

BWSSB officials the line replacement work would not affect areas adjacent to Nimhans, Lakkasandra, Siddapura, Jayanagar 4-T Block, and Wilson Garden.

“We are keeping the existing pipelines working while laying the new ones so that people do not face water scarcity for long periods. While diverting the water flow into the new ones, we might alert people to expect some hurdles,” chief engineer T Venkataraju of the BWSSB said.