Thiruvananthapuram: The water-starved Cliff House, the official residence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, can look forward to days of plenty as far as piped water is concerned.
The Cliff House and the residences of six of his cabinet colleague nearby had not been receiving KWA water for over a year and were relying on tanker lorries for drinking water. But for the last three days, the situation has changed due to the steps taken by KWA engineers. They raised five valve chambers enabling uninterrupted water supply to Raj Bhavan, Cliff House and its compound where six ministers stay. They are Law Minister A. K. Balan (Pampa), Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty (Prasanth), Local Self-Government Minister A. C. Moideen (Periyar), General Education Minister C. Raveendranath (Pournami), PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran (Nest) and Food and Civil Supplies Minister P. Thilothaman (Asoka). A KWA pump house works exclusively for the seven houses. A KWA employee said that Cliff House compound was experiencing water shortage for over two years. G. Sreekumar, chief engineer of south public health division, told DC that they had taken effective steps to solve the scarcity in the area.
"We identified several hidden water leaks, started valve regulation from the PTP Nagar pump house and formed a special surveillance team to detect unauthorised water tapping through huge sumps in high rise apartments," he said.
R. V. Santhosh Kumar, executive engineer of north PH division, said a meeting called by the chief engineer decided to regulate the valve at the PTP Nagar pump house which has 80-lakh-litre tank capacity.
"When the water level reaches three metres in the wee hours, we will redirect it to another area. Thus the KWA could solve 80 percent of the water shortage. Nearby areas like Belhaven Gardens have also started getting water for a few hours," he said.
Earlier, eight to 10 tanker lorries were providing drinking water to Cliff House and six other government residences daily at a cost of Rs 1 lakh. The KWA engineers plan to solve the shortage at Kawdiar, Jawahar Nagar, Vellayambalam, Sasthamangalam and other areas in the capital city soon.
