Water supply to be affected as GMDA plans major repair in pipeline

The repair will cause partial shutdown of the WTP, which caters to the water boosting station located in Sector 16 near Signature Tower on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway through the master pipeline.

Water supply to several parts of the city may be stopped for 36 hours in the third week of this month as the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) plans to start repairing a major leakage in the master pipeline connected with the Basai water treatment plant (WTP), said officials familiar with the matter.

The Basai plant caters to the water-boosting station in Sector 16 through the pipeline to be repaired.

The repair will cause partial shutdown of the WTP, which caters to the water boosting station located in Sector 16 near Signature Tower on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway through the master pipeline. The boosting station supplies water to areas such as sectors 1 to 23, Sushant Lok 1, South City 1, DLF 1-5, Suncity, and Civil Lines.

Abhinav Verma, executive engineer, GMDA, said, “Leakage in the pipeline has been happening for the past few months. But it was not possible for us to shut down the plant during the peak summer season since it is main pipeline of the Basai WTP, which feeds the Sector 16 boosting station from where half of the city gets water daily. We may shut the plant for 36 hours between August 17 and 20. The exact details of shutdown will be shared with city residents on August 15.”

“This (repair) is a big exercise — at least 10-ft digging will happen first and then pipelines will be dewatered to cut a roughly four to five metre of the pipeline and then it will be followed by welding. This whole exercise will take at least 30 hours, and then we will do a testing of water supply before resuming the supply,” said Verma.

The GMDA has two water treatment plants — at Basai and Chandu Budhera. It is currently supplying 440 to 450 MLD water to the city from the two plants on a daily basis.

Residents are apprehensive of the GMDA’s plans. VMK Singh, a resident of Suncity, said, “We wish GMDA inform residents’ welfare associations of the city at least two days in advance, so that we can store water and plan accordingly.”