Hyderabad: Officially, all households in Greater Hyderabad are supposed to receive safe drinking water, but over 40 per cent households in the city do not get potable water that meets international guidelines since water is supplied using ancient pipelines belonging to Nizam era.
According to the WHO, an individual requires 135 litres of water per day. But in the city, citizens do not receive even 60 litres of water on a regular basis according to a study conducted by a team from Osmania University.
Water supplied through these ancient pipelines is prone to contamination and pollution due to leakages resulting. Also, at least 60 percent of the water supplied is lost due to these leakages.
“The pipelines laid during the Nizam period were made of RCC or PVC (plastic), and are prone to leakages and contamination from sewers, especially due to damage during underground work,” said P. Manohar Babu, operations director, HMWSSB.
The HMWSSB had proposed replacing the old pipelines at an estimated cost of '1,000 crore. But the state government was not keen to undertake the project. There are 1400 slums in the twin cities which receive water once in six to seven days only. Most people have to depend on borewells for water.
The Godavari Phase I and Krishna Phase III projects, designed to resolve the drinking water problems in Greater Hyderabad limits, were to be completed by December 2013 but are yet to be completed by the concerned authorities.
“The delay is nothing but inefficiency of the water board officials and lack of will from the government,” said Padmanabha Reddy from the Forum For Good Governance
“Though '8,000 to '12,000 were collected by the GHMC from each building owner in the name of developing a rainwater harvesting system, the project is yet to take off. The municipal officials have constructed harvesting pits in certain public places and closed the account,” said the FGG member adding “We have been dependent on Osmansagar, Himayathsagar, Manjeer and now plan to draw water from Krishna and Godavari.”
