The residents of the capital and the Water Authority officials have been in a prolonged standoff for several days. Each morning, it has become a routine for people to check the newspapers to see if there will be water that day. While some areas may have access to water, many others go without even enough to wet their lips. The frequent and long-lasting water cuts have become an ongoing nightmare for the city. Even when the water supply is restored, it will take several more days for it to reach various areas. Water Authority officials, when approached, offer only generic responses, with the bottom line always being that water is simply unavailable. This has been the ongoing suffering of the people for many days.

In an age where humans can travel to the moon and stay there for months, can’t the Water Authority apply enough technical knowledge to manage the pressure in the pipes buried just a few meters underground to control the flow of water when pressure builds up?

Have senior officials ever investigated why the pipes keep bursting so regularly? And if they have, have they taken any actions to prevent the issue from happening again? Besides issuing notices in the newspapers, why has there been no real sense of responsibility taken for this matter? There is supposed to be an authority responsible for water distribution and a minister overseeing it. What exactly are they doing? If they cannot manage the situation effectively, they should step down and make way for others. Why are they allowing the people’s suffering to continue? The problem of water shortages in the capital city has been an ongoing issue for months, not something new.

Initially, it was claimed that the issue stemmed from the old pipelines. Later, the blame shifted entirely to the pipeline work being carried out along the Trivandrum-Kanyakumari double railway line. The Water Authority’s position was that the problem could only be fixed by rerouting a major pipeline near Karamana. Funds were allocated for this, but no work has been done to date. The only thing that has appeared in the newspapers are regular notices about water shortages. According to the schedule, the water shortage will continue today and tomorrow. The widespread water disruption is due to the closure of pipelines from the main water reservoir at Vellayambalam. Despite repeated requests from the residents for the authorities to take necessary precautions to avoid citywide water disruptions when a major pipeline is shut down, the issue remains unresolved.

The authorities continue to follow the same old methods. A few months ago, the city faced a lengthy water shortage due to broken pipes. While residents were frustrated and angry, they were assured that everything would be fixed, but nothing changed. In the past, when water distribution was managed by experienced technicians, complete water outages were rare, and even when pipes burst, the issues were resolved within hours. Now, with all the modern machinery available, the situation is one of complete neglect. The current lack of water is simply unacceptable. If the authorities know what the problem is and can’t fix it, they should step aside. The people should not have to continue enduring this suffering month after month.