Dye Test of Pipe Network

Dye Test of Sewerage Network in AA1

The underground pipe networks in New Town are being tested using a novel method. Red dye is used - much like dye test for heart blockages - to see if there are any blockages.

The recent testing was conducted by Executive Engineer Abin De and his team following some reports that due to dumping of waste construction materials, some pipe networks had choked and effluents were not flowing properly. The test consisted of puring red dye in one end and then observing its spread through the network at subsequent downstream manhole pits. The time taken to cover the distances between manhole and the intensity of the dye colour are taken into account to see if there are blockages in the fluid flow or leakages into the network.

It took several hours for the checking of one trunk sewer line in AA1C which is 800m long. The result was satisfactory and no intervention was considered necessary. Tests on other areas will be conducted in the days to come.

Sewer lines, as distinct from water supply lines, do not carry water under pressure. With a pressurised system, pipes remain clean on its own. Any blockages would give a reverse pressure on the pumping machinery and so detection of faults is easier. Rain water drainage network is close to the surface and can be visually checked and cleaned by removing slabs over the box drains of New Town. Sewer lines, on the other hand, are gravity driven and so have to be continuously sloped. This means that soon after its origin, the ceramic pipes go quite deep down the earth and often there are Sewerage Pumping Stations in intermediate locations. The outfall terminates finally in a Sewage Treatment Plant and in the STP of AA2, we are using the treated waste water to irrigate avenue plantations.
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Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 25 June 2017

Times of India dt 25 June 2017

Times of India dt 25 June 2017