Deccan Chronicle       28.12.2010

City faces water scarcity as dams overflow

Dec. 27: This year we realised that blaming the rain gods for water scarcity is unfair. It is human inefficiency that creates scarcity in many parts of the city. For the first time in 10 years, all the reservoirs were filled to the brim. The flood gates of the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, two reservoirs that had almost dried up, had to be lifted in order to release the excess water that had built up.

But those citizens who may have felt that now their water woes were over were in for a major disappointment. Many areas of the city continued to suffer from water shortage with the supply being released just once in seven or 10 days.

It is a classic case of “scarcity in plenty”. To its shame, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) admitted that though water was readily available, it could not be distributed equally to all areas of the city because the distribution network — including supply lines, storage reservoirs and water treatment plants — was inadequate.

The amount of water a citizen receives per day in the core city (litre per capita per day or LPCD) is 130 LPCD. It is a meagre 80 LPCD per citizen in the surrounding municipalities.

The Government of India norm meanwhile is at least 150 LPCD per person. Greater Hyderabad, with a population of over 80 lakh, gets 340 million gallons of water per day (MGD) though the demand is for nearly 500 MGD.

There are a total of 7.53 lakh connections in the city and the Board supplies water daily to 3 lakh connections in the core city and parts of LB Nagar andKukatpally. Another 2.50 lakh connections are supplied water on alternate days, and the rest either once in three days, five days, or even seven days.

Mr M. Satyanarayana , the HMWS&SB director (Projects) admitted to this correspondent that as of today, the supply to the municipalities is less than 40 per cent of the total demand for drinking water. The HMWS&SB requires Rs 3,190 crore to improve drinking water supply and is seeking a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This project will cover the water supply proposals of 12 municipal circles for construction of storage reservoirs of 239 ML capacity, inlet and outlet mains of 197 km, distribution network of 3418 km, and construction of raw water treatment plants.

Even if the JICA releases the required funding, and even if work starts in early 2011, the project will take at least four years to be completed.

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.