Hyderabad: Godavari water currently being supplied to the Quthbullapur municipal circle is not suitable for drinking.
After travelling 160 km, the water that’s flowing from the taps is brown. The HMWS&SB has also confirmed that the present supply is suitable only for general purposes and should be boiled and filtered (or any other disinfection method used) before consumption.
At present, 28 MGD is being drawn from the Godavari scheme, of which 18 MGD is for Quthbullapur and 6 MGD for the Kukatpally housing board and 4 MGD for Alwal.
Hyderabad incidentally is the only city to receive water from four rivers – Musi, Krishna, Godavari and Manjeera.
Despite the commissioning of the Godavari scheme and the Krishna Phase 3 (remaining 45 MGD), major pockets of the city are still facing severe water scarcity. There is no change in the quantity supplied; also, Krishna Phase III is mainly serving Prashasan Nagar, covering Kukatpally to Serillingampally. Meanwhile, the core city area is witnessing water rationing.
Mr Mohd Azmath Hussain, a resident of Vijaynagar Colony, Asifnagar, said, “Water supply has been very low for the last 30 days, we get water once every two-three days and that too at very low pressure for only half an hour, the problem is getting worst day by day.”
“As of today, there’s no water supply for the past 10 days. I have complained to the local bodies but got no response. but we are getting water bills, there is no sense in paying the bill for nothing.”
Ms Sabitha Padmanabha, a resident of Umanagar Colony, Begumpet, said, “The complaint registration facility on www.hyderabadwater.gov.in doesn’t work.”
Areas such as LB Nagar, Malakpet, Nampally, Somajiguda, Erragadda, Ameerpet, Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar and Yousufguda are the worst hit as far as supply is concerned in the last eight days. Water rationing started from October 1, wherein the Board has been officially drawing 7 million gallons less. However, sources say that it is drawing much lesser.
“Supply from the two rivers will be increased from 28 MGD to 86 MGD by the end of December, a HMWS&SB official said.
Water table goes south in city
The groundwater level is at its lowest as over 5,000 mineral water plants around Hyderabad are drilling down to 2,000 feet to get water.
These plants are based in Medak, Ranga Reddy districts and a few are towards Warangal. These plants are dependent on 1 lakh borewells in the city’s outskirts.
Mineral water plants don’t get water from the city reservoirs.
Mr K. Laxma Reddy, owner of KLR mineral plants in RR district said, “There are over 5000 mineral water plants spread across the districts sharing borders with Hyderabad, all depend on borewells. Earlier we used to dig five feet and water would be available, however, we currently dig 2,000 feet for water. Each mineral water plant costs Rs 3-5 lakh for equipment. However, most of the cost goes in borewell digging. If this situation continues, we will have to go down 3000 feet for water.
According to a ground water level report released in October 2015, the Singur project, the lifeline of Medak district, used to have minimum storage of water during summer season till recently. But this year the water level has hit dead storage level in October itself . Ground water level in the district has plunged to 50 to 60 meters in most areas and agricultural motor pump sets have dried up.
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