Hyderabad: Osmansagar and Himayatsagar are the lifelines of Hyderabad and they have played a major role in recharging ground water and balancing atmospheric vagaries — apart from being the main source of drinking water supply for the city.
Explaining the benefits of protecting the twin reservoirs, Omim Maneckshaw Debara, an engineer and environmentalist, said: “These reservoirs are economical and safe for the simple reason that they are the closest to the city. Conveyance losses are the least compared to other sources, apart from minimising possibilities of contamination during transit of water.
“These provide the cheapest source of water by gravity ('.2/kl) compared to any other existing or projected sources. The water from river Krishna drinking water project is estimated to cost more than '10/kl. The costs of bringing water from river Godavari are expected to be much higher.”
The Osmansagar reservoir was created by constructing a dam on Musi river in 1916, to serve as drinking water reservoir for Hyderabad, and also to save the city from floods.
A survey conducted by HMDA at Gandipet revealed 108 encroachments into FTL of the lakes and ek fasal pattas within it.
About 200 farmhouses are reported to have come up in the prohibited catchment area of the twin reservoirs, more than 50 per cent of which is used as recreational or resort areas.
The layouts, complexes, educational institutions, farm houses etc are literally choking the prohibited upstream catchment area of the two water bodies.
