Hyderabad: Taps run dry in posh areas; residents call for water tankers

Hyderabad: Be it posh or slum area, water woes have been plaguing all over the city. Specially, west part known as the posh area is deprived of drinking water pipelines. Though the summer season is yet to start, residents in parts of the west zone including the IT corridor are forced to be dependent on water tankers and have started rationing water as there is acute shortage of water.

Irregular and insufficient water supply has been a major issue for several weeks now in areas including Manikonda, Nanakramguda, Madinaguda, Hafeezpet, Chandanagar and other surrounding areas. Some highly populated areas complained of reduced volume of water while houses with small families struggled to store water for at least two days. "With poor supply of water or not reaching the requirements of the families residing in Manikonda, they are forced to purchase water for drinking and other purposes. Water tankers are called in daily from the water board to meet our requirements," said Sridhar, a resident of Manikonda.

The situation in several areas of the west zone is worse as water is not been supplied at least on alternate days. Moreover, slum dwellers are ones who are suffering from water shortage. "Several localities lack water pipelines. The one who receives it gets inadequate water which is not even enough for a day. We residents make a beeline at the water tankers for storing water for drinking and other purposes," said Sunil, a resident of Chandanagar.

Another issue is the haphazard supply timings as some areas receiving water late at night. They also complained of receiving the water with low pressure.

It is said that with the rapid rise in commercial and real estate activity in the west zone and IT corridor, the water in these areas are not reaching the requirements of the people. "Despite our normal water supply to these areas there is a water shortage. Even the borewells are not able to meet the requirements of the residents. As a result, we are forced to book water tankers. Water board dispatches around 200 tankers per day to these localities," said an official at the Water Board.

The water board is currently charging Rs 500 for residential and Rs 800 for commercial per tanker. But the residents alleged that they are charging huge amounts of money as against the fixed amount. "Water tankers are available on call. We booked the tanker when necessary almost every alternate day. They are charging Rs 200 and Rs 300 extra per tanker owing to the demand," said Sushila, another resident.