Maintenance at Aruvikkara Water Treatment Plant to Disrupt Supply Across Thiruvananthapuram — The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has announced that essential maintenance work at the Aruvikkara 75 MLD water treatment plant, which supplies drinking water to much of Thiruvananthapuram city, will disrupt regular water supply on Monday and Tuesday from 8 AM to 8 PM. The scheduled work follows earlier damage to a power cable during roadside construction, which forced a shutdown of the plant last Friday and left many areas with irregular or no water flow.
Officials said the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has already repaired the electrical fault and restored power, but additional post-repair system maintenance and cleaning of major storage tanks at Gangadevi and Observatory Hills are necessary to stabilise supply. These steps are expected to ensure long-term reliability but will temporarily limit the plant’s output while the work is underway.
Residents of elevated and central wards such as Vellayambalam, Pattom, Palayam, and PMG have voiced frustration at the repeated service interruptions, saying the lack of consistent water has forced many to depend on private tanker deliveries at significant personal expense. Some households report paying ₹3,000–₹5,000 per tanker load just to meet basic daily needs during outages.
Local community leaders have urged the KWA and civic authorities to improve infrastructure coordination, especially where roadworks and utility lines intersect, to prevent similar disruptions in future. They argue that planned works like these — though essential — should be better communicated and compensated with contingency arrangements such as public water tankers or advance storage alerts.
The KWA has assured the public that water supply will resume immediately after the maintenance concludes each day and encouraged residents to plan accordingly. In the meantime, authorities are prioritising efforts to minimise inconvenience while ensuring the long-term health of the city’s water treatment infrastructure.
News as reported
