Thiruvananthapuram: Around 300 families from Puthupally lane blocked the Pazhaya road on Tuesday complaining that they were not getting water from Kerala Water Authority lines for over a month. They alleged that reopening of a hospital near Murinjapalam junction had led to excess consumption leading to shortage in households. KWA officials said that the problem was due to the shortfall of water that comes to their overhead tank at Kowdiar.
“Among the areas served by Kowdiar tank, Medical College is at the highest elevation. Many residents associations used to get water only at night and this has also stopped. We need at least 1m height of water in Kowdiar tank to be able to meet the needs of all. However, there is only 50cm water there now,” an official said.
The officials were trying to provide water to the area by closing valves in a few others. However, a positive result was unlikely, they said. As per sources, the issues happened after the KWA started supplying water to more areas at Nemom.
“Kowdiar tank stopped receiving water from PTP Nagar as that section had to give new connections at Nemom,” another source said. The resulting shortage was felt at Medical College causing protests at Chalakkuzhy lane last week. House-holds were in trouble as they had to depend on water tankers or neighbours’ wells. “We got the Road Fund Board’s permission to carry out works to reinstate supply. We are checking allegations the hospital is consuming too much water,” the official added.
