Water woes to worsen, borewells drying up

Adding to the water woes of the city, drying borewells are cause for serious concern.

As many as 208 of the total 977 power borewells and another 547 of the total 5,293 hand borewells have dried up a month before “peak summer” hits the city. Mobile tanker bookings have shot up from 15,000 trips in February to 42,000 trips in April and are expected to cross 50,000 trips in May.

To add to the problems, the shortage of piped water supply will go up to 40 MGD from May 20, 2013, as against the present 20 MGD deficit per day. Water Board is supplying about 320 MGD per day as against the normal requirement of 340 MGD per Source of water Osmansagar Himayatsagar Singur Manjira May 2, 2013 1760.250 ft 1737.050 ft 1694.850 ft 1645.900 ft da. The supply will be reduced to 300 MGD from May 20. Shortage of piped drinking water supply has direct effect on the usage of ground water.

If bore-wells dry up, the demand for drinking water rises as citizens depend on water supply by the Board. Greater Hyderabad is short of water in both, groundwater levels and water levels in Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Manjira and Singur.

Water Board managing director J. Syamala Rao says, “There is water shortage but there is no need May 2, 2012 1771.760 ft 1745.150 ft 1702.987 ft 1644.100 ft to panic. We will cut water supplies to industries by 30 per cent and divert that water to domestic consumers. There will be 40 MGD shortage, but the Board will continue to supply 300 MGD water even if the monsoon is delayed by a month,” he told.

Mr Rao said that even if Osmansagar and Himayatsagar dry up, they will continue to supply 300 MGD water daily to the city at the rate of 120 MGD from Manjira and Singur and 180 MGD from Krishna Phase-I and Phase-II.