Borewells Go Dry, Hyderabad Gasps for Water

Hyderabad:Hyderabad is facing one of its worst water crisis in years, with taps running dry across the city, groundwater levels plunging to alarming lows, and even 1,000‑foot borewells drying up in several localities. As summer peaks, citizens are locked in a desperate struggle for potable water, often waiting days for tankers that sometimes never arrive.

Every part of the city, including the old MCH limits that have seen a rapid shift from individual houses and apartments to high‑rise towers, is now under severe water stress. This is the first crisis of such scale in nearly a decade. Areas repeatedly flagged as the worst affected include KPHB, Kukatpally, Gachibowli, Kondapur, Narsingi, Kokapet, Manikonda, Madhapur, Nizampet, Nanakramguda, Nallagandla and Tellapur, all of which are under a water emergency.

“Water has become a daily battle here. Without tankers, normal life simply stops. In western Hyderabad, particularly in the 7th Phase and 9th Phase of KPHB, people are not just facing shortage, they are surviving on uncertainty. We wait for tankers the way stranded people wait for relief, because there is no other option. Every month, thousands of rupees are going only to buy water, not to improve life,” said Lalitha, a resident of KPHB Colony.

Despite Hyderabad’s population growing by 35 per cent to 40 per cent over the past decade, with several peripheral areas merged into the city, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board has not increased supply proportionately. Daily supply remains stuck at around 550‑600 million gallons per day, the same level maintained for over a decade, while the city’s current requirement is about 750 MGD. A senior water board official said demand is expected to rise to 835 MGD by 2027, leaving a deficit of nearly 235 MGD.

Official data from the Telangana groundwater department shows that 70 per cent of Hyderabad is now over‑exploiting groundwater, with 11 of the 16 mandals extracting between 100 per cent and 177 per cent of the available reserves. The over‑exploited and critical zones include KPHB, Ameerpet, Khairatabad, Amberpet, Asif Nagar, Saidabad, Dilsukhnagar, Chaitanyapuri, Gachibowli, Kondapur and Nizampet. Unrestricted borewell drilling has pushed the water table to historic lows, while civic authorities have failed to recharge stressed aquifers through roadside rainwater pits and other measures. “In many areas in Hyderabad, one doesn’t get the first layer of water unless they drill at least 800 to 900 feet deep,” said a borewell operator.

The city recently hit an all‑time high of more than 15,000 tanker bookings from Metro Water Works over the last few days, surpassing the previous year’s record of 12,000. Yet the gap between demand and supply remains wide. Private tanker operators are charging between ₹1,200 and ₹2,000 for 5,000 litres, compared with ₹550 charged by Metro Water Works. For 10,000 litres, private tankers are charging ₹2,000 to ₹4,000, against ₹1,150 by the utility.

Sai Teja, a resident of Nizampet, said families are spending an extra ₹5,000 a month apart from maintenance charges, as drinking water has not been available for the past four months and tanker deliveries often take three days to a week. Mani Ratnam, president of the Federation of Gated Communities in Hafeezpet, said monthly expenses, including regular maintenance charges, have risen sharply from ₹2,000‑₹4,000 to ₹5,000‑₹8,000 between March and May.

Adding to residents’ anxiety, the India Meteorological Department’s forecast of below‑normal monsoon rainfall for 2026 has deepened concerns about the months ahead. For now, thousands of Hyderabad residents remain dependent on costly tanker supplies, waiting hours for water that may never come, and fearing an ever drier monsoon ahead.