HYDERABAD: Unlike Bengaluru, which is suffering from a drinking water crisis, Greater Hyderabad and its peripheral areas are in a much stable position in terms of availability of drinking water. Hyderabad is better placed than Bengaluru in providing drinking water to its water consumers, especially during summers, as water levels in reservoirs that supply drinking water to Hyderabad are sufficient to meet the water demand.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is presently supplying 2,610 Million Litres of water per Day (MLD) to a population of about 13 million, whereas Bengaluru Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BMWSSB) is supplying 1,460 MLD of water to about 12.90 million population. This variation in the quantity of supply demonstrates that Hyderabad is giving 1,100 MLD or more water than Bengaluru, MAUD Principal Secretary M Dana Kishore said during a review meeting on drinking water supply and water tankers, with officials of different departments on Monday.
Water is supplied to as many as 14 lakh houses, covering an area of 1,450 sqkm in Greater Hyderabad and city outskirts by the HMWSSB, whereas the BMWSSB is supplying water to 10.15 lakh houses covering an area of 575 sqkm in Bengaluru. Hyderabad is recording an average per capita supply of 150 Litre Per Capita per Day (LPCD) as against 108 LPCD in Bengaluru. Hyderabad has 440 service reservoirs as against 93 in Bengaluru, the principal secretary stated.
As per data compiled by WELL Labs, Bengaluru’s demand for fresh water stands at approximately 2,632 MLD. It is reported that in addition to the 1,460 MLD of Cauvery water supplied by the BWSSB, the city presently utilises an estimated 1,372 MLD of groundwater, which fell due to depletion of ground water table. Due to rainfall deficit this year, 6,900 of the 13,900 borewells have dried up.
Demand for water tankers has increased from areas like Gachibowli, Madhapur, Kondapur, Jubilee Hills, Khairatabad, Banjara Hills, Kukatpally, Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar, Manikonda, Shaikpet, Nizampet as more than 31,000 consumers whose borewells have dried due to large scale extraction of groundwater are now dependent on HMWSSB water tankers.
As per a survey report of 1,700 houses, about 65% of the consumer borewells have dried up and 15% of the consumer borewells’ yield has reduced in the Western parts of the city. The groundwater depletion had started to take place from the last week of February/ first week of March, 2024. In these areas, a large number of vertical multi-storied apartments and buildings have come up resulting in the depletion of groundwater tables.
