40% of water wasted daily in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: At least 40% of Hyderabad's precious water is wasted everyday and unless the age-old pipelines carrying water to the city homes are replaced immediately the shortage of water could spiral out of control, top water board officials said.
Unbelievable as it may sound, upto 3 million gallons of water from Osmansagar reservoir gets poured out every day due to leakages in the old lines, installed way back in 1935.
"Normally in any country 17% is the admissible rate of water loss. In Hyderabad, however, it is at 40%," Manohar Babu, director (operations), Water Board told TOI.
At a time when thousands of Hyderabadis spend hours waiting in long queues with buckets in hand to get water or order tankers at high prices to meet their household needs, Water Board officials said big institutions and even hospitals pay little heed to leaking pipes, taps or reservoirs that cause loss of water.
Many areas in the city are reeling under acute water shortage and the Water Board is supplying water once in three days in some areas. There are some areas which are supplied water once in a week, that too through tankers.
"Unless people realise the importance of the most precious substance on earth and take steps, it will probably only get worse. We must all wake up and save water," Babu said.
About four years ago, the board had come up with a proposal for relaying old pipelines in the city, costing Rs 1,200 crore, but this all important proposal was shelved due to paucity of funds, while enviromnetalists across the city have cried hoarse on diminishing water levels in the city.
Currently, the city is getting water from Singur, Nagarjunasagar, Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, where levels have all gone down to more than worrying levels. Both Himayatsagar and Osmansagar are drying up, adding to the city's water woes.
As against the capacity to supply 340 million gallons of water per day, the Water Board is supplying just 320 million gallons now.
"The city's total requirement is 460 million gallons per day including commercial sector. We are already falling short of 80 million gallons per day as our installed capacity is only 340 million gallons," said Babu.
"We need to improve our installed capacity to meet the growing demand. By August 2014, another 90 million gallons of water would be added to the city's total supply from Krishna Phase III," he added, saying that the prevailing water scarcity is due to drying up of bore wells.
Experts, however, said the city's daily demand is around 700 million gallons per day and not 460 million gallons as claimed by Water Board.
"The city has grown exponentially and Water Board is not catering to the water needs of many of these areas. People here are mostly depending on ground water," said D Narasimha Reddy, convener, Joint Action for Water.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/40-of-water-wasted-daily-in-Hyderabad/articleshow/20078614.cms
Unbelievable as it may sound, upto 3 million gallons of water from Osmansagar reservoir gets poured out every day due to leakages in the old lines, installed way back in 1935.
"Normally in any country 17% is the admissible rate of water loss. In Hyderabad, however, it is at 40%," Manohar Babu, director (operations), Water Board told TOI.
At a time when thousands of Hyderabadis spend hours waiting in long queues with buckets in hand to get water or order tankers at high prices to meet their household needs, Water Board officials said big institutions and even hospitals pay little heed to leaking pipes, taps or reservoirs that cause loss of water.
Many areas in the city are reeling under acute water shortage and the Water Board is supplying water once in three days in some areas. There are some areas which are supplied water once in a week, that too through tankers.
"Unless people realise the importance of the most precious substance on earth and take steps, it will probably only get worse. We must all wake up and save water," Babu said.
About four years ago, the board had come up with a proposal for relaying old pipelines in the city, costing Rs 1,200 crore, but this all important proposal was shelved due to paucity of funds, while enviromnetalists across the city have cried hoarse on diminishing water levels in the city.
Currently, the city is getting water from Singur, Nagarjunasagar, Himayatsagar and Osmansagar, where levels have all gone down to more than worrying levels. Both Himayatsagar and Osmansagar are drying up, adding to the city's water woes.
As against the capacity to supply 340 million gallons of water per day, the Water Board is supplying just 320 million gallons now.
"The city's total requirement is 460 million gallons per day including commercial sector. We are already falling short of 80 million gallons per day as our installed capacity is only 340 million gallons," said Babu.
"We need to improve our installed capacity to meet the growing demand. By August 2014, another 90 million gallons of water would be added to the city's total supply from Krishna Phase III," he added, saying that the prevailing water scarcity is due to drying up of bore wells.
Experts, however, said the city's daily demand is around 700 million gallons per day and not 460 million gallons as claimed by Water Board.
"The city has grown exponentially and Water Board is not catering to the water needs of many of these areas. People here are mostly depending on ground water," said D Narasimha Reddy, convener, Joint Action for Water.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/40-of-water-wasted-daily-in-Hyderabad/articleshow/20078614.cms