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El Nino, water mafias draining Hyderabad dry
In Short
From collapsing subterranean aquifers to illegal extraction rackets, water turns into a costly commercial gamble
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El Nino, water mafias draining Hyderabad dry
Hyderabad: The harsh legacy of El Nino-induced deficient monsoons severely crippled Greater Hyderabad's water distribution, transforming what should be a simple turn of a household tap into an agonizing waiting game. A basic life necessity that once flowed as a fundamental right is fast turning into an expensive commercial commodity, driving up household budgets alongside rising food and grocery prices across city markets.
Official hydrological assessments indicate that groundwater tables plunged by over 6.85 metres in a single year, forcing residential borewells that once found water at 60 feet down to 600 feet or leaving them entirely dry. To preserve depleting reservoirs, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) cut back pipeline supply schedules moving releases from alternate days to once every three days in many areas, while reducing tap pressure and flow duration to barely 30 minutes in dense residential corridors like Borabanda, Parvatnagar, and Padmavathi Nagar.
This abrupt tightening of pipeline supply falls heaviest on working-class and middle-class women, who spend countless sleepless hours managing domestic chores around unpredictable supply timings.
“Our tap water used to come every other day, but after El Niño, we get barely thirty minutes of supply every third night, forcing us to sacrifice sleep just to fill basic cooking pots,” shares Lakshmi Devi, a resident of Borabanda in Hyderabad.
The situation is similar in Jubilee Hills, Saidabad, Rehmat Nagar, Gayatri Nagar and majority of other localities in the IT capital.
“Even in residential pockets here In Jubilee Hills, the dropping water tables mean pipeline pressure is extremely low, proving that every neighbourhood is feeling the squeeze of this shortage,” highlighted Gayatri V, a resident of Jubilee Hils.
Besides El Nino, water mafias are also draining the city dry as they eye on moolah.
