HYD is a water sufficient city: Officials

Hyderabad is a water sufficient city, officials insist. With reports in certain sections of the media triggering fears of a severe water shortage in the near future in the city, the government and Water Board officials have come out listing available water sources and statistics, reiterating that Hyderabad was a water sufficient city and that there was nothing to worry.

The capital city would not run out of drinking water like Chennai or other metros in the country, with the Yellampally Barrage and the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir both being capable to meet the city’s water requirements throughout the year, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board managing director M. Dana Kishore said here on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Kishore said the city’s daily requirement was 420 Million Gallons per Day (MGD). Water was currently being drawn at the rate of 172 MGD from the Godavari source at Yellampally Barrage and 270 MGD from the Krishna source at Nagarjuna Sagar.

“Both sources together supply 442 MGD to the city. In addition, small quantities are being currently utilised from Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. At present,
here are 9.8 lakh households in the city which receive over 300 MGD and for commercial and industrial purposes, we supply more than 100 MGD,” he said.

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Moreover, with the Kaleshwaram lift scheme already commissioned, the Yellampally Barrage was bound to shortly receive its full capacity at 20 TMC. The carryover flows to the tune of 160 TMC would be utilised from this source over a period of time. Thus, Yellampally would become a perennial source of water to the city by August, Kishore said.Regarding the reliability of Krishna water sources, especially from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir, the Water Board chief said 1.375 TMC was being drawn from this source to the city every month.

“The Water Board has proven experience to draw the full design capacity of 270 MGD even from the depleted storages of the present capacity,” he said.“To meet drinking water supply needs on the city’s peripheries, the Board has completed a Rs.1,900 crore project with water distribution there now being on par with the core city,” he said.

On water supply for ORR villages, Kishore said that of the 164 proposed reservoirs, 139 were completed and the remaining were nearing completion. He added that about 1,400 km of pipelines were laid and the project was expected to be completed by the end of August.A Rs.422-crore pipeline project from Ghanpur reservoir to Patancheru along the ORR for 44 km had helped in circumventing a major water crisis under the Manjira/ Singur source command areas as well, he added.