Previous Leaks at Annaram Plugged Shoddily, say Officials
Hyderabad: Efforts to plug previous leaks at Annaram barrage — that resulted because of the piping phenomenon, with water moving from under the foundation from the upstream to the downstream side of the barrage and carrying sand with it — were done shoddily, and it is not certain how long the barrage would remain safe, sources in the irrigation department said.
They told Deccan Chronicle on Saturday that the Annaram barrage contractor had used pressurised PU foam to plug the pipes to stop the leak, and sand from under the barrage’s foundations.
“They pumped foam from the downstream side of the barrage and against the pressure of water rushing out from under the foundations, and this led to a lot of wastage of the material. Since this was done in this manner, we are not very sure how well this will hold and for how long,” a source said.
Having learnt this lesson from its first attempt to plug the leaks using the foam, this time, once the water from Annaram is evacuated, another round of pumping the foam under Pier 32 will be attempted to block further leaks. But this time, the pumping will be from the upstream side of the barrage, the sources said.
“We are concerned at what is happening at Annaram… We hope nothing more untoward will happen there, or at Medigadda,” the source said.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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