Hyderabad: It will take three to four years to solve the city’s drinking water crisis, according to officials close to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and sources in the Water Board.
Even if the government is able to source water from the Krishna and Godavari rivers, the expensive process of laying pipelines to areas that do not get water will take a while.
The Water Board has prepared a detailed project report seeking Rs 1,600 crore for the purpose, which is awaiting sanction from the Centre. Currently, work is going on on the Rs 300-crore World Bank project to lay new lines in Malkajgiri. The project will be completed in 2016. The Rs 3,300-crore Godavari project is likely to bring water to the city by September.
A top official of the Water Board said Rs 1,600-crore project includes replacing old pipelines and laying new ones for the Hyderabad service area, construction of reservoirs, inlets and outlets and the distribution systems of reservoirs. This is similar to the ongoing Rs 300-crore project at Malkajgiri but the scale is much wider and includes surrounding and core city area that do not have infrastructure.
The total length of raw water mains is 84 km and the length of treated water mains is 600 kms. The board’s distribution network is 7,980 km. The Board has 120 reservoirs in the city.
“Presently the demand in the city is 385 million gallons a day. The rest of the 45 MGD water from the Krishna Phase 3 Stage 2 will reach the city soon. The Godavari project of 170 MGD is likely to be complete in September-October. By the year end, 602 MGD will be supplied to the city,” said a top official of the Water Board. However, he said, major infrastructure has to be created to supply the water to all areas.
“Even today, many surrounding municipalities have pipelines built by the gram panchayat and not according to Water Board norms. The entire network has to be changed,” he said.
Presently the Board is carrying out a survey in the inter-panchayat region of the Outer Ring Road. The survey is aimed at taking account of the total population, connections, demand and supply. The board is to check the nearest reservoirs, lay pipelines and supply tap water.
