HYDERABAD: It may well be a double whammy for the residents of twin cities this summer. Power cuts may have a domino effect on the supply of drinking water in Greater Hyderabad. Disruption of power supply at water pumping stations and division levels will not only hit colonies under the GHMC limits but also villages nearby. When locality-wise power cuts are announced, water supply timings too become erratic.
Of the 343 Million Gallons Daily (MGD) supplied to the Greater Hyderabad consumers, Osmansagar accounts for 23 MGD, Himayathsagar 17 MGD, Manjeera-Ph-I 16.50 MGD, M-Ph-II 27.50 MGD, M-Ph-III 36.08 MGD, M-Ph-IV 41.58 MGD, Krishna-Phase-I 90.01 MGD and Krishna-Phase-II 91.60 MGD.
Water is drawn from Krishna Phase-I, Phase-II, Manjeera, Singur, Osmansagar and Himayathsagar through gravity, which means that 85-90% water supply is made through pumping systems. At present, the demand for water is 440 MGD but the water board is able to supply only 343 MGD. The water availability in these reservoirs is satisfactory but the problem for the board is power supply at the pumping stations in Kondapur, Nasarlapally. Godakondla, Gunagal, Rajampet, Kalabgur, Peddapur and others.
As a result, citizens are already feeling the heat. One needs to only browse through the Facebook page of the water board to feel the pulse of the people. “I want to make u aware (of) an issue with water supply. We are receiving water supply every six days for the past one month. Before, we used to get it every two days. Residents in the colony are facing a lot of problem due to the time gap in supply. Plz address this problem as soon as possible,” posted a consumer, Pavan Praneeth, from Dayanandnagar Colony, Malkajgiri on the water board’s wall. The area manager Madhavi blamed power failure for the erratic water supply.
The water board officials held a meeting with the Central Power Distribution Company Ltd (CPDCL) three days ago where the former sought exemption from power cuts for main water pumping stations. They also urged the CPDCL to avoid power trips at feeders and other technical snags at sub-stations to ensure continuous flow of water from reservoirs.
The water board officials told City Express that they had come to an understanding with the CPDCL according to which the discom had agreed to exempt water pumping stations from power cuts. Disruption of power even for a few minutes at these pumping stations results in delay of an hour to start pumping again. Every time power goes off and comes back, officials have to restart motors one by one and not all of them at one go. Hence, the supply to residential areas gets delayed.
Despite the assurances from CPDCL, water board officials contend that water supply to most of the areas in the twin cities was hit due to power cuts within the divisions. “It is either in the form of erratic timings or low water pressure or less water supply,” they said. Under the circumstances, the water board is mulling rescheduling of water supply timings.
Water board managing director Adhar Sinha stressed the need to maintain proper pressure and water supply timings wherever there are scheduled power cuts and pumping was getting affected. He has directed the general managers to coordinate with CPDCL to ensure that power cuts do not affect water supply.