Sad but true: 33% of Ahmedabad cave-ins around new pipes

GNN | Aug 23, 2018, 3:13 PM IST|

• 12 of the 36 lines were between 10 to 20 years and another 18 were older than 30 years.
• Old lines need urgent repairs and though the process started three years back in 2015 the pace of repairs was not up to the mark

Ahmedabad August 23, 2018. Abysmally bad quality of plumbing materials and equally bad plumbing work contribute to the ever increasing number of sinkholes in Ahmedabad. In the monsoon of 2018, Ahmedabad has been a mute witness to 59 big and small sinkholes in different parts of the city. Of these 59 cave-ins, 36 resulted from leaks in drainage or stormwater pipelines alone.
GNN learns, statistics compiled by AMC say 12 of the 36 lines were between 10 to 20 years and another 18 were older than 30 years. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has admitted that many stormwater lines that gave way had illegal sewage connections. This means the lines were constantly fractured to add illegal drainage lines. Analysis done by AMC says of the 59 cave-ins, two were because of faults in laying cables, while 36 were because of leaks in stormwater and drainage lines. Another 21 cave-ins were reported around manholes for these drainage and stormwater lines.
Reeling out statistical data, Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said of the 427 cave-ins since 2013, 59 were reported this year and of these 59; 48 were reported around drainage lines and 11 were reported around stormwater lines. “Majority of cave-ins occurred due to leaks in drainage lines which were more than 30 years old,” Nehra said. Ahmedabad, Nehra said has 42.85km drainage lines that are older than 40 years. The diameters of these lines range between 900mm and 1,200mm. “Old lines need urgent repairs and though the process started three years back in 2015 the pace of repairs was not up to the mark,” he said. So far less than 6km lines have been repaired using trenchless technology. This year, the AMC repaired only 9.6km lines.
To check cave-ins, the AMC will have to stop pumping sewage into stormwater lines. We hear stormwater lines where cave-ins were reported are those lines where sewage is pumped into stormwater lines both by housing societies that have made illegal connections and also by the AMC. Stormwater lines are not supposed to carry drainage water. But that is exactly what is happening.
“I can also say the growing cave-ins are a result of the poor quality of products and poor engineering,” says a veteran AMC observer. “The quality of pipes used is poor and even the quality of plumbing craftsmanship is poor.”