Hyderabad: Due to irregular water supply, several parts of the city, including those that are considered ‘posh’ have been forced to rely on water tankers. These areas are not getting piped water and residents are having to pay to water board and purchase tankers.
Piped water is scare in summers as the consumption is high and water board is not willing to supply extra water or increase the pressure of water.
With borewells drying up, the water board has made the alternative arrangement of supplying water via tankers. Water which is supplied through tankers is being carried out on ‘need’ basis, officials said.
A senior official explained, “The pipeline network supplies the regular quantum of water but if the demand increases in some households they can then order tankers. The short supply problem is only in a few homes in some areas and is not being felt all across the city. For this reason, the water board supplies tankers as those who have a higher demand have the option.”
The tankers are a major business as they are booked 24*7 and the claim that ónly a few houses suffer from shortage does not appear to be true. But the Water Board is not willing to supply the same water in pipes stating that an increase in demand for water is not being in all the residential areas of the city.
At present, complaints of water shortage are from areas in Vengalraonagar in Erragadda, Adarshnagar in Miyapur, Hasmathpet in Old Bowenpally, Leelanagar and Saraswathinagar in Begumpet, New Gokulnagar in Uppal, Gachibowli, Udaynagar and Banjara Hills Road No. 10, Chilkalguda, Gayatrinagar in Moosapet, Jubilee Hills Road No. 76, Hanumannagar, and parts of the Secunderabad Cantonment.
Board officials claimed that the water demand in the city had increased immensely because borewells had dried up due to depleting groundwater levels.
According to Mr Abhinav Reddy of Banjara Hills Road No. 10, the area has been receiving water once every four days for three weeks. He said that 90 families in the locality have been compelled to book four tankers every day for their domestic needs.
“Due to increasing demand, the field level staff at the filling stations are charging Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 while a tanker costs Rs 850 if booked online. Because tankers arrive 24 to 72 hours after they are booked online, we are left with no option but to pay the amount demanded by the staff,” he said.
The water board operates 5,000-litre and 10,000-litre tankers. The smaller tanker costs Rs 500 and the bigger ones Rs 850.
Mr Rameshwar of Saraswathinagar in Begumpet said that the area has been facing a water crisis like never before.
He said that borewells had dried up and the board was supplying water irregularly and at very low pressure. He added that because he’s having to book water tankers, his monthly expenditure on water has increased by `2,000, upsetting his budget.
Asked about the problem, a senior water board official said supply to a few areas was hampered due to temporary repairs and that uninterrupted water supply will be restored after their completion.
The official assured that the water transmission to the city had not changed and that the board was supplying 430 million gallons per day (MGD) through the pipeline network and three MGD through water tankers.
Until about a week ago, the water board was supplying 4,844 tankers a day. Over the past couple of days, the number has shot up to 7,244 on average. The demand for tankers has increased in Kukatpally from 366 to 656 tankers per day, SR Nagar 366 to 720, and at Asifnagar from 438 to 923 tankers daily.
In Ramachandrapuram, Patancheru, and Serilingampally divisions, the daily demand for tankers has gone up from 1,833 to 2,923, and in Manikonda from 134 to 647. The demand for water tankers has seen a noticeable increase in areas to which the Singur-Manjeera water supply stood hampered.
