City can’t hold water

Hyderabad has water sources but lacks storage capacity

With rain gods playing hide and seek, the water board has only the Krishna Phase III and Godavari Phase I to fall back on. But with no storage facilities the board is in a catch-22 situation

Hyderabad: It is a foregone conclusion that there is a water problem in the city but even if the remaining additional water from the Krishna Phase III and Godavari Phase I is released, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) does not have the storage capacity.

Out of the 20 water tanks (also called as service reservoirs in technical parlance) planned in the 20 zones of the city, work on 12 has not started and just 40 per cent of work is complete in the remaining eight.

A senior official of the water board said, “We have the water sources but do not have the capacity to store. The service reservoirs have the capacity to store only 500 million litres (ML) per day whereas the requirement is of 1000 ML per day, the official added.

He further stated that the HMWS&SB does not have the capacity to store Krishna phase II, III and Godavari phase I water. He stressed the importance of augmenting the capacity of service reservoirs in the GHMC limits. The city would face severe water problems if the capacity augmentation of reservoirs is further delayed.

What started 14 years ago is still in the making. The water board proposed to augment the capacity of 20 service reservoirs in 2001, with an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore but lack of funds is the main reason cited for the project taking a backseat.

The Tata Consultancy prepared a detailed project report for 20 service reservoirs to augment their capacity in all 20 zones in 1994. But the work on eight services reservoirs, including Hussainsagar, Chilkalguda, Adikmet, Narayanaguda, Asif Nagar, Jubilee Hills and Chandrayangutta, were initiated in 2001 during Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's tenure.

The works even continued during YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime until 2006. In 2014, there was a proposal to augment the capacity of five service reservoirs. The Telangana government gave the nod to augment two service reservoirs.

Last week, works on a water tank at Marredpally started but officials say that there is a need to quick-start works in all other tanks. Service reservoirs at Prakashnagar, Marredpally, Red Hills, Shaikpet, Banjara Hills, Mir Alam, Misringi/Charminar, Aliabad, Jahanuma, Maisaram, Riyasat Nagar and Asmangadh are awaiting to be augmented even after 14 years.

Qutbullapur and Moosapet worst hit

While the water board has been managing to supply water to the city though intermittently, the residents of Qutbullapur and Moosapet have been badly hit. The water supply is once in 10 days. Officials at the board warn that if something drastic is not done in augmenting the service reservoirs, the fate of the residents of Qutbullapur and Moosapet may well befall residents of other areas as well. As of now the HMWS&SB has minimised the supply time from one hour to half an hour in many areas in the city, it would go less than 10 minutes if there is no rain.

By Maddy Deekshith