Cuttack, May 7: The Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) is working on a war footing to meet its deadline of replacing all water supply pipelines in the city by September.
"The pipline replacement project started in September last year. We plan to replace around 98.60km of pipelines by September this year. We have already replaced pipe-lines on a 55-km stretch," Pheo (Cuttack division) executive engineer Sushant Ghadei told The Telegraph.
On July 31 last year, chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the project to replace the old, rusted or leaking water pipelines that were blamed for several disease outbreaks in the city because of contamination. The work is being carried out under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) and Pheo is spending Rs 34 crore on it.
More than half of the water pipelines of Cuttack were installed two to three decades ago. These pipelines have long outlived their service period and need immediate replacement as people from several areas of Cuttack have been frequently suffering from water-borne diseases.
The government was forced to address the problem after several hepatitis outbreaks over the past few years.
Hepatitis struck the city in April 2014 and again in September the same year. The third hepatitis outbreak took place in February 2015. The outbreak reached serious proportions here again on at least two occasions last year - during March-May and in December.
It is hoped that along with checking recurrent attacks of water-borne diseases, the new pipelines will also put an end to wastage of water caused by leakages in the supply channels. At present, the PHEO provides 102.9 million litres of water every day against a daily demand of 101 million litres. But, the Pheo estimates that 25 per cent water gets wasted every day because of leakages in pipelines.
Telenga Bazaar resident Pradeep Sahu hoped that the pipeline replacement drive would permanently end hepatitis outbreaks in the city.
Ranjan Kumar Das, an official of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation's standing committee on health and sanitation, said: "We had identified 15 wards that are highly vulnerable to hepatitis outbreaks due to water contamination and focussed on fast replacement of water pipelines there on a priority basis."
Among the localities categorised as "highly vulnerable" aree Shelter Chhak, Kafla, Mansinghpatna, Sidheswar Sahi, Dagarpada, Alisha Bazaar, Khatbin Sahi, Dewan Bazaar, Kazi Bazaar, Rovers Street, Mehendipur, Sutahat, Pattapole, Qadam Rasool Basti, Kathagada Sahi, Hati Pokhari, Kesarpur, Gamhandia, Bepari Sahi, Baunsagali, Mali Sahi, Nuapatna, Behera Sahi, Mac-hua Bazaar, Malgodown and Jobra.
At present, 44 of the city's 59 wards get piped water. Of the remaining 15 wards, 13 are partially covered by piped water, while two wards are still out of the civic body's bounds in this matter.
