This summer, Secunderabad railway station, the biggest one with 1.60 lakh footfalls every day, may not face water shortage as part of its requirements are met through recharging of an old well and recycling of wastewater, according to senior South Central Railway (SCR) officials.
The station requires about 35 lakh litres of water every day with 12 lakh litres drinking water for passengers on 10 platforms. Another 20 lakh litres is needed to meet the water requirement of 680 coaches of trains that pass through the station and another 365 coaches of trains that originate here every day. In addition, three lakh litres of water is required for cleaning the coaches, platforms and tracks.
Of this, about 30 lakh is being sourced from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) for drinking water and another five lakh litres is being met internally – three lakh litres through recycling of wastewater and two lakh litres is obtained through the revival of an old well at Alugadda Bhavi.
The water that’s used for cleaning platforms and tracks is recycled. It is used again for cleaning the coaches and tracks, and for gardening and so on. The water is purified through a three-layered process to remove foreign particles and odour.
The SCR authorities have also taken up construction of rainwater harvesting pits at eight places around the railway station for recharging groundwater.
The relatively smaller Hyderabad railway station with 90,000 passenger footfalls requires 10.05 lakh litres every day –four lakh litres for drinking water, 3.80 lakh for coaches and 2.5 lakh litres for cleaning.
The SCR is using only 1.5 lakh litres from the water board and rest (nine lakh litres) is being obtained through bore-wells.
A water recycling plant is under construction here and along with six rainwater harvesting structures, the railway officials are expecting to reduce their dependence on bore-wells.
