HYDERABAD: While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage normal life, it is unwittingly leaving certain resources to replenish. For Hyderabad, it is all
about drinking water.
Water consumption has reduced drastically this summer in the city, in the
face of people thronging 50 government hospitals, about 170 private
hospitals, 4,200 clinics and nursing homes for Covid-19 treatment. The
considerable drop in water consumption is attributed to the closure of
commercial establishments like malls, restaurants, clubs, pubs and others
during the lockdown in May and the spread of deadly Covid-19 second wave
during mid-March and April.
This apart, the closure of schools, colleges and work from home culture have
forced several employees to shift base out of Hyderabad. Those who are in
the city, especially attendees of patients undergoing treatment for the
virus infection are mostly opting for packaged water rather than drinking
water supplied by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB).
According to the water board officials, due to the second wave of the
pandemic, people (especially attenders of Covid-9 patients) who throng
Hyderabad for treatment opt for packaged drinking water along with the
residents fearing Coronavirus spread.
Residents who lost faith in the water supplied through tankers choose either home filters or water supplied by third party agencies. Officials said the water tanker demand was reduced to 30 percent even during the peak summer. Conventionally, per day water tanker booking is anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 during summer. The trend remained the same during 2020 during the lockdown period. However, the current year's water demand is reduced drastically during the current summer season.
Out of a total 1,200 tankers, there are hardly 1,000 trips on a daily basis. Citing
the lukewarm response from the consumers, the water board has reduced the
number of operational water tankers to 900 at about 80 filling stations.
The HMWS&SB's official data disclose the same. While in 2019, a total of
2.75 lakh bookings were made in Hyderabad during the summer months of March, April and May, in 2020, the number of bookings reduced to 2.09 lakh during the same period. If this year’s data from March 2021 to May 31 is
considered, the total number of bookings stands at a mere 1,05,264, which is
approximately less than half of the bookings made in 2020.
A senior Water Board official requesting anonymity told this newspaper that
the demand in the city was reduced due to several factors. He said the board
had been supplying about 500 MGD of water from both the Godavari and the
Krishna basins.
"Non-operational commercial establishments, work from home culture and
closure of schools and colleges have forced the residents to shift their
base to different cities, towns and villages out of Hyderabad. With the
experience of the Covid-19 first wave, 20 per cent of city residents left
Hyderabad this summer. This apart, unseasonal rains have increased the
groundwater levels and the fear of coronavirus spread has forced the
citizens to opt for packaged drinking water. Others have installed home
filters and water supplied by the board catered the drinking needs for the
remaining," the official informed.
However, officials said the HMWS&SB had suffered huge revenue loss due to
delay in Aadhaar seeding enabling citizens to save water bills during peak
summer and drastic reduction of water tankers. The official said the board,
during the current summer, could not even generate 20 per cent of its income
when compared to previous years despite continuous drinking water supply.
