Hyderabad: Himayat Sagar brims

Hyderabad: The extended monsoon this year has brought in good news for denizens with the two major drinking water lakes of the city reaching to their full tank levels (FTL). The storage level of Himayat Sagar rose to 1762.223 feet against its FTL of 1763.500 feet on Tuesday, the of HMWS&SB have rolled up sleeves to open crest gates anytime in order to allow flood water to pass on further through the course of Musi river. Following a weeklong intermittent rains in the catchment areas and subsequent inflows, the lake is about to breach FTL anytime soon thereby keeping the officials of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) on their toes.

Sensing the enormity, the officials of the water board at Himayat Sagar Lake have even issued a circular asking the officials of Revenue departments to alert the people residing downstream of Musi as they are about to open the gates to release the flood water. Due to good rains this year, the storage capacity has fared significantly better than last year. While the present water level is standing at 1762.223 feet, it stood at 1740.80 feet during the same period last year. While this is the second time in a month that storage capacity of the lake reached FTL, a similar situation was last witnessed almost 10 years ago in 2010 wherein the water level swung to the brimming level.

Meanwhile, Osman Sagar Lake, another tributary of Esi river, recorded the storage level at 1773.615 feet as against the full tank level of 1790 feet.