Tough times ahead, City to face Water woes

As the city is already suffering from water crisis due to dwindling water levels in the five water reservoirs, it seems the tough time is not yet over, as the drinking water problem in Greater Hyderabad is going to worsen further.

According to sources the supply of water from the Singur and Manjira reservoirs is going to be stopped completely in a day or two. About 340 million gallon of water per day of water had been being supplied to the twin cities till last month. The overall demand for water in Greater Hyderabad is about 600 MGD.

Right now, the water levels at Singur and Manjira are precariously low. The Manjira reservoir (1.5 tmcft) has no water at all as it has dried up completely.

The Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs, which used to supply 40 MGD of water a day, have already dried up. Of the 320 MGD water that is being supplied in GHMC limits now, 75 MGD is drawn from the Singur reservoir and 45 MGD from the Manjira.

Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board managing director B.Janardhan Reddy told Express that “the situation would be worsen if there had been a delay in bringing the Godavari water to Hyderabad by a week or two. The situation will turn worse during the coming summer as the available Godavari water (Yellampally) can meet the drinking needs only up to July next.

A few days ago, the irrigation department had informed the Greater Hyderabad stating that whatever little water was available now would be supplied to meet the drinking needs of the people of nearby Sadavshivpet and Sangareddy towns, and nagar panchayats in Medak district.

Even if 86 MGD water from the Godavari is brought to Kukatpally, Serilingampally, Quthbullapur and Alwal (Division VI), there will still be a shortfall of 75 MGD as the water supplies from Singur, Manjira, Osmansgar and Himayatsagar (160 MGD) will be stopped now.