Drinking water from Kaleshwaram project, to be drawn from Yellampally reservoir, will be available for the city from the end of August or September 1.
City’s drinking water supply will be augmented by 172 million gallons per day (mgd) once the water arrives, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board Managing Director M. Dana Kishore said on Wednesday, allaying fears spread by reports that the city is facing acute water shortage and that the available water will not last for more than a month and half.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, he said that compared to other cities, Hyderabad was better placed when it came to water supply, and once completed, Yellampally would be the perennial source of water for the city. The board is, however, yet to build a reservoir and pipeline for availing the water fully.
The press meet came on the heels of legislator K.T. Rama Rao’s tweet about Kaleshwaram water pumped from Yellampally reservoir to address the city’s water needs. Mr. Rao was responding to film director Maruthi Dasari’s query on misgivings about the water reservoirs.
In Nagarjunasagar, the present storage is at 126.46 tms, while the drawl for city from this source is only 1.375 tmc per month. The Water Board had drawn full quantities from the present levels through emergency pumping earlier, and drawing 270 mgd even now.
As of now, the assured availability of drinking water is at 442 mgd, and together with the drawls from twin reservoirs, it will reach 464 mgd. The city’s water needs, at present, stand at 420 mgd, which the board can comfortably meet, Mr. Dana Kishore said, attributing the scarcity experienced in summer to depletion of groundwater resources.
Speaking about issues in distribution of water, he said a total of 56 reservoirs had been completed in the peripheral municipalities, while maximum work had been finished with regard to 164 reservoirs and pipeline network in villages inside ORR. The project is expected to be completed by August-end, he said.
Besides, as per instructions from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the board is taking up a project to create distribution network for gated communities and colonies within ORR, with government sanction of ₹586 crore.
Two storage reservoirs were being built respectively at Keshavapuram and Devalamma Nagaram to receive Kaleshwaram water from Mallannasagar reservoir via Konda Pochammasagar reservoir, he said.
