At last, the foundation stone for the Rs 1,670-cr Phase III of the Krishna Drinking Water Supply Project (KDWSP) will be laid by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at Sahebnagar on the city outskirts on June 1.
The Phase-III project aims to bring 90 million gallons of water per day (MGD) to Greater Hyderabad from next year. As against the demand of 440 to 450 MGD, the HMWS&SB is currently managing to supply about 340 MGD to Greater Hyderabad. Presently, Phases I and II of the KDWSP are, together, supplying 180 MGD of water _ 90 MGD each.
The demand for drinking water has increased in the city due to rapid urbanisation in Hyderabad city and merger of surrounding municipalities with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), IT sector, ORR growth corridors, industrial clusters etc.
All the Greater Hyderabad MLAs, irrespective of their political affiliations, have been vociferously demanding for the last three years that the state government should take up the KDWSP Phase-III on a war footing to meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that the reliability of existing sources like Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Singur and Manjira was diminishing with every passing year. This was because the Osmansagar and Himayatsagar were drying up regularly and inflows into Singur and Manjira were dwindling.
The total installed capacity of the existing sources is about 340 MGD. Based on the source dependability analysis, the available net quantity of water is of the order of 271.50 MGD. Hence, there is an immediate need to augment the water supply from KDWSP Phase-III to meet the immediate deficit, according to the officials. Already, the HUDCO has approved the Rs 1,670-cr KDWSP Phase-III.
The foundation stone, which was planned to be laid by the chief minister in November last year, could not be laid till date due to various reasons. The main components of the project are construction of a water treatment plant (WTP) of 90 MGD capacity, construction of clear water reservoirs, balancing reservoirs of 117 ML capacity to facilitate intermediate pumping, construction of pump houses and erection of pumping equipment, laying of clear water transmission mains of 113.5 km length and laying of distribution trunk mains of 62 km length to connect to service reservoirs.
The WTP will be constructed on the existing premises at Kodandapur. The clear water reservoirs and balancing reservoirs will be constructed at the existing places adjacent to the Phase-I and II structures at the respective campuses.