Hyderabad: The Water Board Act clearly bars using drinking water for swimming pools, but three of the GHMC’s seven pools use drinking water. The GHMC’s B.V. Gurumurthy swimming pool near Patny circle needs thousands of gallons of water. The city has 112 registered private pools, excluding those in five-star hotels; about 90 per cent use groundwater, in contrast to the GHMC. A GHMC sport wing official said Gurumurthy pool, which is the corporation’s biggest, has been using drinking water since 1963. Tap water is also used at the pool in Amberpet, the GHMC’s second biggest, and the one at Moghalpura pools. The GHMC operates seven pools at Secunderabad, Amberpet. Moghalpura, Sanathnagar, Vijaynagar colony, Ameerpet and at Chandulal Baradari.
The Water Board charges the GHMC commercial rates to supply drinking water for its pools. Borewell water is used for the swimmers to shower. “These pools will be always filled, even though the residents might be starved of water,” the official said. In 2012, the then AP government issued an order banning the supply of drinking water to swimming pools, parks and playgrounds. Over 95 per cent of private pools use groundwater. Vineeth Reddy, owner of the 25-metre Splash Pool at Karmanghat said it needed 10,000 litres daily to make up for water that is lost when people jump in, due to evaporation and while cleaning. “We have to add water daily through the borewell. Most of the water is also lost In the backwash by the balance tank (that is located underground to remove the dust).” Owing to the depleting water levels, many pools have not opened in the city.
“Usually we open the pool in February and keep it running through the summer. This time, we haven't opened the pool so far as less water is available and it is expensive. There is no sense in booking water tankers as it would result in increased maintenance charges and the customers may not be willing to pay more,” said G.K. Reddy of Global Pool, Uppal.
Many owners have increase the fee by a few hundred rupees, which earlier used to range between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 a month. “I increased the fee by only Rs 100, to Rs 1,500 this year. Even the slight hike has affected the customers. We are incurring a 15 per cent loss for the past of couple of months.” said Akshay Pandey, incharge of the JP pool at Ameerpet.
Water Board MD, who is also GHMC commissioner, Dr B. Janardhan Reddy said, “Our priority is to provide water for drinking. We are not against supplying water tankers to swimming pools, but there is a huge demand for drinking water from households. Our priority is to meet the needs of the people.”
