Leaking water pipes ruin roads: BBMP

Leaking water pipes ruin roads: BBMP
By S Lalitha, DH News Service, Bangalore:
Some portions of the Raj Bhavan Road, Mysore Road, Cubbon Road, K H Road and J C Road, which were laid between six and 18 months ago by the BBMP, display huge potholes today.


The asphalting has also worn off on some stretches. The BBMP has blamed the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) stating that water leaking from the pipes underground were responsible for the potholes.

The BBMP had complained several times about the issue. Engineer-in-Chief A K Gopalaswamy said, “We spend Rs 70 lakh to lay one kilometre of road. But water ruins them soon.”

AEE, Projects, Narasimha Murthy says, “BWSSB takes days to identify the leakage and considerable water gets onto the street by then. And to set right the leakage, the road is dug and then left untended. It is left to the BBMP to take the blame and redo the entire portion then,” he said.

Blame game

There also seems to be a lack of co-ordination between the two civic bodies.
The hemp yarn used to join the mammoth pipes together causes the leak, the BBMP officials say. “Lead was used to join the pipes a decade ago and it never used to leak like this,” they add. Lead is banned as it contaminates the water. The contractors entrusted with road laying work have lost their interest, since they end up doing the same job again and again.

A top BWSSB official conceded that leaking pipes on roads caused problems, particularly on Mysore Road. “The pipes on many roads are almost 50 years old and need to be replaced.” Referring to Mysore Road, he said, “Those pipes were laid in 1982 and are leaking now. We had invited tenders to replace the pipes earlier, but there has been no response,” he added.

The BWSSB was doing its best to attend to leakages brought to their attention, he added. The suggestion of BWSSB setting right portions of the road after digging them was a policy decision that must be jointly taken by the BBMP and the BWSSB, he added.