Summer turns harsher for city’s western parts

Many areas not being supplied drinking water even once in five days

Several localities in the city are facing acute drinking water shortage this summer, which is steadily worsening by the day. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), however, is doing precious little to alleviate people’s misery.

While the water pumped through the Board’s pipeline network scarcely matches the city’s enhanced summer requirements, consumers booking tankers too are a frustrated lot, owing to the enormous delays. Many areas on the western side are not receiving drinking water even once in five days. Even where water supply is on alternate days, the quantity has gradually come down to a trickle.

“For the past one month, water quantity has come down, and when we complained, the lineman said the pumping pressure had been reduced because the motor was burnt. Now, for the past couple of days, it has come down to a dribble,” Mohd. Arifuddin, a resident of Venkataramana Colony complained. Majority of the complaints are from places such as Madhapur, Nanakramguda and Gachibowli, with some residents complaining of supply once in a week. A peek into the tanker bookings of the HMWSSB shows that residents of Ramachandrapuram, Sajeeva Reddy Nagar, and Kukatpally divisions are bearing the brunt of water shortage. Officials inform that the demand for water tankers has spiralled during the current month, and that the Board is unable to meet it. Over the past 13 days, the number of pending requests for tankers has reached 11,711. Daily, 3,500 fresh requests arrive, and it is taking three to seven days for them to be processed.

Close to 8,000 pending requests are from S.R.Nagar, Ramachandrapuram and Kukatpally divisions alone, which have localities such as Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Serilingampally, Kukatpally, and Patancheru. “We have kept 60 out of 700 tankers at Madhapur alone, each making up to 10 trips per day. Still, we are unable to meet the requirement,” an official said.

Private tankers are supplying water illegally at exorbitant prices, and managements of some residential complexes have even put up notices saying they cannot supply water any more. Illegal drawing has increased, through pump-sets fixed to the pipelines. The Water Board has seized 230 such pumpsets recently, with 30 seized on Friday alone from Gachibowli.

Not exploiting the Singur and Manjeera reservoirs has affected the overall situation, insiders say. The Board is short of 54 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from these reservoirs, which is sought to be compensated by drawing from Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs. Still, shortage exists as the Board is able to supply only 466 MGD of water, against a requirement touching 500 MGD.

Chief General Manager (Transmission), D. Sudarshan, however, maintained that there was no hitch in supply situation, and that the demand has gone up owing to parched borewells. He attributed the temporary shortage to power interruptions and voltage fluctuations, besides the difficulty to pump from low water levels of Manjeera and Singur.