Sunday shocker: Taps to run dry

CHANDIGARH: Your Sunday will be tense and frantic on the water front. A machine breakdown will badly hit the supply in the city battling low pressure, leaving taps dry and causing hardship to residents on a day meant for relaxation.
Officials said the pro-meter — a device which measures the volume of pumped water — at Kajauli water works malfunctioned on Saturday morning.As a result, the pumping of water and supply of full 40 MGD (million gallons per day) water from Kajauli to Chandigarh halted from morning till evening. Consequently, water supply will be majorly affected on Sunday. Since the same supply goes to Mohali and Panchkula, they too will face the woes. But as Chandigarh gets the maximum supply, it will be the worst-hit.
The problem in the pro-meter emerged at the Kajauli water pumping station maintained by the engineering department of the Punjab government. Sources said it stopped working around 11am.
Pro-meter also regulates the quantity of the water. “Both the Punjab engineering department and Chandigarh municipal corporation work at Kajauli to supply the water. The area where the problem emerged falls under the jurisdiction of Punjab,” sources said.
“We immediately informed the officers of the Punjab engineering department. They started the repair work, but the two main pipelines failed to supply the 40 MGD water. As a result, the water reservoir could not be filled on Saturday evening and the water already stored in the reservoir was released for Saturday evening supply. Sunday’s supply will be completely hit. There will be low pressure and water is unlikely to reach houses on top floors,” sources said.