The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has put the construction of sluice gates near the Hotel Marriot to control the water outflow on the backburner but it has gone ahead with the study to prepare a project report for refurbishing the raw water distribution system of Hussainsagar.
Work cleared
Last week's standing committee cleared the work estimated to cost Rs.22.8 lakh to a private consultant. Contrary to the general opinion, the polluted waters of the lake were being used for several decades by several institutions, including the Osmania University, quite a few industrial units in Azamabad and for public parks like Indira Park, Sanjeevaiah Park and so on.
Outlets
Outlets are said to be at three places near the Dhobi ghat and the Ganda Maisamma Temple.
Water was flowing through gravity through the old pipelines, which could be at least two feet below the ground and several buildings have come up on it over the years.
Controlled release
“The consultant would study the current state of pipelines, check for leakages and also measure the quantum of water being released from the lake plus the usage. A mechanism for controlled release of water too would be suggested. We have no precise information on these aspects,” said GHMC Engineering-in-chief R. Dhan Singh.
Works worth Rs. 370 cr.
Reason for the sudden interest is because of ongoing lake dredging and cleaning work taken up by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) at a cost of Rs.370 crore with the assistance of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to be completed next year.
The fountains in operation at the Hussainsagar for improving aeration and tertiary treatment of the water would make the lake water fit for commercial use but not potable for drinking purposes.
Tariff
The plan is to fix a tariff for the water being released from the lake after treatment and this would be a substantial hike from the existing rate to the industries. Water is currently being supplied free to parks.
However, there is also a school of thought wondering if it was worth the effort to do an inventory of the old pipelines considering that these could be more than 60-years-old. Even if modern and sophisticated ultrasonic flow meters are used for the project, it would be necessary to dig at frequent intervals to gauge the pipeline strength and for leaks.
Rather than trust the old pipelines it would be better go in for fresh pipelines for a more assured supply to the industries, feel a few senior engineers.
