The BWSSB is getting ready to tackle flashfloods and overflowing manholes as the city has been receiving rains for the last few days. It has purchased 42 jetting machines that will clear the blocked underground drains using a jet of water under high pressure.
Of the 42, four are small machines, which will allow them to move around easily on smaller roads in the heart of the city. But these machines will be available only in July which will not be of much help during the rainy season.
The monsoon usually hits the city by May-end and the machines cannot be used when the rains are on in full swing. As the drains and manholes will be full of water, the machines cannot pull the silt out. The Bangalore Water Services and Sewerage Board has to finish cleaning the sewers and manholes before the monsoon sets in.
The city has a drain network of 3,600 km and 1.2 lakh manholes in the core area. The water board has 28 machines, which are not enough to clean all the manholes and sewers in the city. One jetting machine can clean two to three manholes a day. Cleaning two manholes automatically desilts another four to five manholes downstream. Insufficient number of jetting machines and shortage of labourers were causing sewers and manholes to overflow in the city.
The BWSSB had called for tenders to procure 30 additional jetting machines last year, but did not receive them. The 42 new machines this year will be bought from Tata Motors, Pune at a cost of ` 6 crore. Shortage of jetting machines has led the BWSSB to often opt for manual cleaning of manholes and drains. February, the Karnataka High Court had directed the BWSSB and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board to stop manual cleaning of manholes.