Hyderabad lakes can supply water for 500 years

Hyderabad: Does the city of Hyderabad require projects like intake well station at Sunkishala in Nalgonda district which is being constructed at a cost of Rs 1500 crore?

Water conservationists point out that the existing water bodies are enough to meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad. The successive governments had deliberately killed the fresh water bodies in Hyderabad and promoted the construction of big projects with huge funds. The Telangana Government was one step forward by giving fast approvals to construct big reservoirs, they rue.

They said Hyderabad, which was known as 'City of Lakes', has the potential to meet the drinking water supply of the city for at least 500 years if the government adopted sustainable water conservation methods.

The state government ignored freshwater lakes and relied on the external water resources by spending thousands of crores on constructing the drinking water projects far away from the state capital. It began during the regime of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Government, which took up the project to pump water from Krishna and Godavari to Hyderabad. The present Telangana Government was also continuing the practice of laying huge pipelines and constructing giant reservoirs to bring river water.

In the process, lakes in the greater Hyderabad limits have been ignored and allowed to die. Over 3,000 natural fresh water bodies vanished in and around Hyderabad in the last 70 years. About 185 lakes exist and are on the verge of extinction.

Noted environmentalist Prof K Purushotham Reddy said that the civic bodies like GHMC and HMDA were not realising the importance of the lakes. The major challenge is the sustainability of the lakes and protecting the city from climate change and meeting drinking water needs.

He said the famous Firangi Nala, which passed through the Old City in Hyderabad, has been made to dry up. The stream originated at Chandanvalli village in Chevella and flows via Shamshabad, Old City merging with Ibrahimpatnam lake. It is called as a contour canal. It used to fill about 25 reservoirs along the route.

State Municipal Administration and Urban Development officials said that the famous Tigal Kunta, Somajiguda tank, Mir Jumla tank, Pahar Tigal Kunta, Kunta Bhawani Das, Nawab Saheb Kunta, Afzalsagar, Nallakunta, and Masab Tank had disappeared. Hussain Sagar continues to stink and nothing much could be done to clean it. The catchment area of the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, the main drinking water sources for Hyderabad have shrunk due to encroachments.

The Government has stopped giving priority to the revival of the existing water bodies and prepared plans and took up big drinking water reservoirs around Hyderabad to lift Krishna and Godavari water.

The foundation stone laid by Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao for the intake well station at Sunkishala in Nalgonda district last week is the part of extension of Krishna phase 1,2 and 3 drinking water projects. "The other projects to lift Godavari water from Mallanna Sagar and Yallampally cost more than Rs 3,000 crore. In all, the government is spending nearly Rs 10,000 crore to construct drinking water reservoirs in Hyderabad," rued environmentalists.Hyderabad requires 637 MGD (million gallons per day) but they were not able to supply more than 500 MGD and that too on alternate days. "Every lake has the potential to conserve rainwater which can be used for drinking water needs in the nearby localities for the entire year. The government allowed realtors to dump garbage in lakes and encroach them. If the lakes were protected they could have supplied drinking water for the next 500 years", said Lubna Sarwath, a representative of Save Our Urban Lakes.