It seems that the main 1,200 mm pipeline that carries water to the city from the Aruvikkara reservoir cannot share the spotlight and cannot bear to be outdone as the record-breaker for suffering the most number of leaks and ruptures. Barely a week after a small distribution pipeline rupture at Plamoodu made local headlines, the prima donna of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in the city - the decades-old main pre-stressed concrete (PSC) pipe - drew attention back to itself by suffering a major burst - and this time very near the source at Aruvikkara - on Saturday night.

This occurrence of a major leak on the main line after a smaller leak on a distribution line is by the way the second time in two months. In the first week of October, a distribution line - namely a 500 mm high density polyethylene pipe, around 40 years old - which carries water from the Vellayambalam treatment plant to Manacaud region and beyond had burst, flooding the Power House Road near the Kripa theatre and disrupting supply to the coastal side.

Around four days after that a leak was detected on the infamous 1,200 mm PSC main near Karakulam. Pumping at Aruvikkara was stopped. The city was water starved.

The same story was repeated this weekend, when Sunday saw taps running dry in the city even as rain clouds cast a gloom over it. And this time, the repair works, as senior KWA officials put it, was a “heavy job.” “The leak has happened at a depth of 4-5 metres and it appears two sockets have ruptured,” said an assistant executive engineer with the KWA.

“The excavation, which began soon after the leak was reported around 8 pm on Saturday, has been made difficult because of the depth and the loose soil,” he said.

The occasional rain, an assistant engineer at Aruvikkara said, has also played spoilsport as it hampers the welding process. As of Sunday night, water supply from the water mains to various areas in the city - Peroorkada, Muttada, Kuravankonam, Vazhayila, Mannamoola, Kudappanakunnu, Nalanchira, Kesavadasapuram, Mannanthala, Kariavattom and Technopark - remained closed.

The city-zens remained dependent instead on water already stored in their tanks or on the services of the KWA’s tanker lorries. As many as 44 loads were dispatched to various areas of the city through the tankers by Sunday evening, according to the KWA Helpline Centre. An additional five loads were dispatched on Saturday night as well, the officials said.

“We hope to restore the leak and resume pumping by 10 am Monday,” said the KWA assistant engineer.

Meanwhile, the mild steel pipeline that is set to replace the 1,200-mm mains of the repeated rupture fame is expected to be commissioned by the end of January, as announced by the KWA last month.