Hyderabad: City dwellers raise a stink over dirty, smelly water

Hyderabad: After the incessant rains, residents in several parts of the city are fuming as they are receiving contaminated and muddy drinking water. This leads to water-borne diseases such as typhoid and dysentery if this is not rectified. Residents also complain of getting drinking water mixed with sewage.

In some colonies, residents have been getting illness-causing drinking water that is contaminated by drainage for one month now. Several areas that are receiving contaminated water are Gandhi Nagar Colony, Musheerabad, Madhapur, Sri Nagar Colony, Vaddera Basti, Langer Houz, King Koti, Shalibanda, Moghalpura, Qazipura, Purani Haveli, Hussainialam, Bahadurpura, Tadban, Kishanbagh, and Nawab Sahab Kunta.

Following rains for the last few days, there was a massive drain overflow in various parts of the city. According to the residents, sewage water is seeping into the drinking water pipeline and contaminating the water. Even after the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials visited the areas where people were receiving the contaminated water, they are yet to rectify the problem. Several parts of the city are receiving contaminated water.

Prashant, a resident of Khairtabad said "We have been receiving contaminated water. I fell sick after consuming it. I had to visit a nearby clinic after I started loose motions. People are suffering from diarrhea," he said.

Several representations, offline and online were given to officials and social media especially Twitter is flooded with complaints related to residents receiving contaminated water. While tagging the HMWS&SB, the citizens are complaining regarding the dirt water and demanding to resolve the issue. Such complaints have been pouring in from multiple localities in the city.

"This type of water seems to be supplied in most parts of the city, including Nampally, King Kothi, Himayat Nagar, Khairtabad, Kukatpally, Musheerabad, Erragadda, Tolichowki, and various localities in Old city.

Shaik Raheem, a resident of Nadeem Colony in Tolichowki, said around 46 houses in a colony have been getting water heavily laced with drainage effluent for the last 15-20 days. Despite several complaints, there was no improvement in the situation. "We are now depending on water tankers," he added.

Mohammed Ahmed, activist, and resident of Old City said that the drinking water in the area is contaminated with sewage with water smelling foul most of the time and cannot be used for any purpose. "Cases of people falling sick after consuming contaminated water are increasing. Several areas of the city are receiving contaminated water and the authorities are not reacting or taking up any action plan to identify the problem and provide purified water."

Moreover, he pointed out that in various localities in Old cities such as Shalibanda, Himmatpura, Fateh Darwaza, Hussainialam, Aliabad, Shamsheergunj, Falaknuma, and other various areas there was no upgradation of drinking water pipelines sine decades."

According to HMWS&SB, the board has taken up measures to make sure there is no supply of dirty drinking water in the city. "To ensure purified water, over five lakh chlorine tablets have been distributed in localities. Every day, around 15,000 tablets were distributed in different parts of the city," said the official at HMWS&SB.