Deccan Chronicle      28.12.2010

Experts warn of water shortage

Dec. 27: Whatever grand water augmentation projects lie in the future, urban development experts and elected representatives warn that the citizens of Greater Hyderabad will find it hard to get even 80 LPCD of water per person per day if proper and careful planning of available resources is not done now.

The government’s focus in 2011 should be to successfully bring 180 MGD of water from the river Godavari to the city. Another major policy decision has to be taken to revive the Krishna Phase-III project.

Vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Mr Marri Shahsidhar Reddy, said the city is losing 5.5 TMC of water that was allocated by the Centre for the Krishna Phase-III.

“We do need Godavari water keeping in view the future requirements of the city, but it will take four years for the project to be completed. Krishna Phase-III, on the other hand, can be executed in less than a year as land acquisition was completed before the project was shelved and it will cost only Rs 1,000 crore compared to more than
Rs 3,375 crore for Godavari Phase-I alone.”

Mr Srinivasa Chary, director of urban planning at the Administrative Staff College of India, estimates that the water requirement of Hyderabad will go up from the present 340 MGD per day to 1,200 MGD per day in the next 10-15 years. Krishna Phase-III will provide an additional 90 MGD of water per day to the city within a year. Once it is completed, the Godavari Phase-I will supply 180 MGD per day, and the second and third phases will supply another 360 MGD per day.

The MIM MP, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, points out that the ongoing Telangana agitation has charged the atmosphere. The water-drawing points of both, the Krishna (Nagarjuna Sagar), and the Godavari (Yellampalli), are Telangana hotspots. “Krishna Phase-III is a must and if the government does not react immediately, no one can save the citizens from a catastrophe,” he said.

The BJP MLA, Mr G. Kishan Reddy, said farmers are up in arms against the government because water is being supplied to the city from Singur. About 2.5 TMC has already been allocated to farmers from Singur.