Water waste: it had to be done, says bwssb

You may call it classic irony. Lakhs of litres of Cauvery water was wasted in Kalidasa Layout in Srinagara on Wednesday even as the BWSSB was in the midst of Cauvery pipeline works to ensure

better water supply. You may call it classic irony. Lakhs of litres of Cauvery water was wasted in Kalidasa Layout in Srinagara on Wednesday even as the BWSSB was in the midst of Cauvery

pipeline works to ensure better water supply. A 30-foot fountain from a pipeline outlet in Kalidasa Layout in Srinagara lasted for about six hours, said the residents of the area. The

fountain sprang up when the BWSSB engineers opened the valves to release water to get rid of huge air pockets in the water pipelines. These air bubbles are caused when water supply is cut.

In the absence of water, air fills up the pipes. This air gets trapped under tonnes of water when water supply is resumed and high pressure is caused within the pipes, BWSSB engineers said.

“We have to let this air out by opening the valves to save the pipes,” the engineers added. On Wednesday, the board engineers discovered that air pockets had developed over several

kilometres of the pipeline that runs through Srinagara. Allowing the air pockets to remain can put the pipelines at risk as the extreme pressure that is caused because of the air bubbles

when water is released can result in the pipes cracking and water leaking in huge volumes. “Air pockets can cause pipes to break due to extremely high pressures. To prevent that, we had to

open the valves to release the water,” said PN Ravindra, the BWSSB spokesperson, who is also a BWSSB engineer.