HYDERABAD: With water levels plummeting to lowest ever in the decade in the five reservoirs that supply drinking water to citizens of Greater Hyderabad and its outskirts, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has prepared a contingency plan to deal with the impending crisis.
The plan, entailing an expenditure of `50 crore, was submitted to the government on Friday for funding at the earliest. The money will be released under Calamity Relief Fund by the commissioner for disaster management.
With water reaching alarmingly low levels in the Himayatsagar, Osmansagar, Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar, Manjira and Singur reservoirs and a scanty rainfall this monsoon, the new HMWS&SB managing director, B Janardhan Reddy, called for preparation of a contingency plan and equitable distribution of drinking water to consumers.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that the board sought funds for emergency pumping from Singur, Manjira, Akkampally (Krishna), Osmansagar and Himayatsagar; servicing of pumps and motors; installation of generators at pumping stations to ensure continuous pumping during load shedding and other works.
The present water levels in the Osmansagar (Gandipet), Himayatsagar, Singur and Manjira, which meet nearly half of the drinking needs of Greater Hyderabad and city outskirts, are abysmally low.
As against the combined water storage of 39.783 tmcft in the five reservoirs, the present water storage is just about 3.896 tmcft. It was 17.582 tmcft last year on the same day while it was around 30 tmcft the same day in 2013.
The levels in the Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam reservoirs too have hit a new low and officials have become sceptical about guaranteed water supply to the city in the coming days.