HYDERABAD: To address the future drinking water needs of Greater Hyderabad, particularly during the summers, the State government has given the green signal to the HMWS&SB to draw water from Sunkishala Barrage near Nagarjunasagar reservoir. The government sanctioned Rs 725 crore in the State Budget for the project on Thursday. The estimated cost of the same is Rs 1,450 crore.
Currently, water is being drawn from the AMRP irrigation canal, which uses water from Krishna via the Nagarjunasagar Project. Every year, during summer, due to depletion of water levels in Nagarjunasagar reservoir below the Minimum Draw Down Level (MDDL) + 510 feet, the existing canal system is not able to deliver water to Krishna Drinking Water Supply (KDWS) schemes. Therefore, the Water Board is often forced to install emergency pumping systems at the foreshore of Nagarjunasagar to draw water below the MDDL.
Every year, the HMWS&SB spends heavily to install a temporary pumping station with heavy duty pumps, motors, transformers and electrical cables, and also to dismantle the same on a war footing at the onset of monsoon. Now, Sunkishala has been identified as the point where water can be drawn below MDDL up to +462 feet. The Sunkishala intake project can ensure drinking water supply to Hyderabad city even if the monsoon fails for a year.
Of the Rs 1,450 crore, about Rs 952 crore will be utilised for the construction of an intake pumping station at Sunkishala and transmission mains from Sunkishala to Kodandapur water treatment plant, including manning operation and maintenance for a period of two years. A sum of Rs 215.15 crore is set aside to provide electromechanical equipment, sub-station and instrumentation works at the intake pumping station. Other components include an underground shaft, intake tunnel, etc.
HMWS&SB gets Rs 2,381 crore
The HMWS&SB received a major share in the 2021-22 Budget; the Water Board was allocated Rs 2,381 crore. In the previous year’s Budget, about Rs 900 crore was allocated to HMWS&SB. This year’s allocation saw a substantial increase from the previous year’s. While Rs 732.52 crore was allocated as loans, Rs 668 crore was given as loans for development work.
Fluoride menace eradicated, says Harish
Quoting a few lines from a song that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had penned on the fluoride menace and the hardships faced by the people of Nalgonda, Finance Minister Harish Rao, while presenting the State Budget on Thursday, said that the State government has successfully eradicated fluorosis from Telangana. “The Mission Bhagiratha scheme has fully eradicated the fluoride woes of Nalgonda residents,” he said.