11 hours ago
- Climate
- New Indian Express
Siruvani water supply hit in Coimbatore after pipeline damage, ongoing repairs underway
COIMBATORE: Drinking water supply from the Siruvani Dam to the residential areas of the Coimbatore district has been severely affected following back-to-back pipeline works that are being carried out by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board and the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) over the past week.
The disruption began earlier last week when the civic body began to carry out critical interlinking works, reducing the supply from 100 million litres per day (MLD) to 50 MLD. These works aim to connect the Siruvani pipeline with the Pillur Scheme-3 to improve water management during periods of low dam storage.
Just as the works neared completion, a fresh setback occurred last Friday. A major Siruvani pipeline was accidentally damaged during road-widening work by the State Highways Department near Kalampalayam on the Siruvani Main Road. The mishap led to the loss of thousands of litres of treated drinking water and disrupted supply to areas like Kurichi and Kuniyamuthur.
The TWAD Board is now working on emergency repairs. Officials said full restoration of the supply is expected soon after the remaining joint-packing and repair works are completed.
As of Sunday, the water level in the dam stood at 40.34 feet, well below its full capacity of 49.53 ft. Only 66.32 MLD is currently being drawn, against the agreed supply of 101.4 MLD.