Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board thread
The situation is the result of deficit rainfall during the current year
Groundwater table continues to fall in the city setting alarm bells ringing. Piezometers installed at different locations show a steep fall in water levels.
The average depth to ground water level recorded during April ranges from 4 metres to 26.20 metres. The lowest average water level is recorded in the piezometer at Quli Qutb Shah Government Polytechnic, Bahadurpura and the deepest at the granite formation in Institute of Electronic, Marredpally.
The range of depth to water level is 0-5 metre in Bahadurpura Mandal, 5-10 metre in Asifnagar, Musheerabad, Himayatnagar, Khairatabad, Saidabad and Shaikpet Mandals, 10-20 metre in Ameerpet, Bandlaguda, Charminar and Nampally Mandals and more than 20 metre in Marredpally.
CONCRETISATION
The situation is the result of deficit rainfall (-27 %) during the current water year. As against the normal rainfall of 811.60 mm, Hyderabad district received 594.8 mm in 2011-12. However, experts feel it is not just deficit rainfall which led to fall in water levels. Concretisation was also a major factor in causing run off. As a result there was less percolation of rain water, say officials at the Ground Water Department.
The ground water scenario in Ranga Reddy district is no better. The water level depth recorded in April range from 5.0 metre to 24.48 metre below ground level. The shallowest water level is recorded in the piezometer at Shahmirpet village and the deepest level in the piezometer at Pargi Mandal.
DROUGHT IMPACT
In fact the network of 37 piezometers set up in various locations give a clear hint of effect of drought in Ranga Reddy district, officials say.
The Ground Water Department has strongly recommended construction of rooftop rainwater harvesting structures and maintenance of existing structures by way of removal of top sand layer during pre-monsoon so that the recharge to ground water will be more once monsoon sets in.
The Water Board has launched a campaign to persuade people to take up rainwater harvesting structures in their premises. There is a good response from residents to camps held in Nizampet, Kukatapply and Dattatreya colony.
As on today, the Board has a total of 24,646 applications from households for the rainwater harvesting structures. The maximum applications of 8355 are from Division X, 3253 from Division VI and 3151 from Division IX. “We will try to complete the rainwater harvesting structures at the earliest,” says J. Satyanarayana, Assistant Director, Ground Water.
The Water Supply Board is spending thousands of crores of rupees to bring additional water to Hyderabad from the phase-I of Godavari and the phase-III of the Krishna project. Despite this, it has failed to put in place an effective mechanism to check the huge quantities of water that is going unaccounted for.
Officials admit that over 160 million gallons of the total 340 million gallons of water supplied every day is going unaccounted. This means, nearly 50 per cent of the total daily supplies are not giving a single penny to the Water Board, which is spending Rs 3,375 crore to execute the Godavari phase-I and another Rs 1,700 crore on getting water from the Krishna phase-III.
The Water Board supplies 340 MGD daily in the city, but collects bills for only 180 MGD water. As per the revised tariff slabs, the Board should get over Rs 80 crore in monthly bill collections for 342 MGD water supplied per day in the city. However, it is getting Rs 50- 52 crore per month. The unaccounted for water is due to leakages and wastage resulting from old pipelines, the illegal tapping of water from the main pipelines, the lack of monitoring of public stand posts (public taps), meterless and illegal water connections, besides supplies to religious and charitable institutions like temples and mosques.
There are only 1.20 lakh connections in the city which have meters, and bills are issued based on the water supplied to these connections. For the remaining connections (non-metered), it is a minimum bill of less than Rs 220 per month, even though they consume water three times more than the minimum monthly bill. The total water connections in the city is 7.50 lakh connections. Water Board in-charge director (technical) Sundar Ram Reddy admitted that over 40 per cent of the total water supplied daily was going unaccounted, but hastened to say that every step was being taken to check this wastage.
“We are taking measures such as installation of meters to all the connections individual, institutional, public stand posts and other consumers so that there is an account of water being supplied to each connection,” he stated. Mr Reddy explained: “Our priority is to measure the water and subsequently concentrate on billing.”
Hyderabad, June 26 -- Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board today said that water is being supplied normally in the twin cites and to meet the requirement of citizens in areas of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation 340 to 345 million gallon is being supplied on daily basis.
Refuting the report from a section of media, regarding water shortage, water board officials told that a total of 340.34 MGD water is being supplied in the twin cities from Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar, Manjeera, Phase I II III & IV and Krishna Phase I & II.
They claimed that there is no shortage of water. Published by HT Syndication with permission from Siasat Daily. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
This work has been going on since the last 3 years :bash: I think they are using only 1 tunnel boring machine for the entire stretch which is atleast 6 Km long.The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has written to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to stop its tunneling work below the Basheerbagh flyover, fearing that there could be a repeat of the collapse that occurred five years ago when a portion of the Panjagutta flyover that was under construction caved in.
Basheerbagh is one of the most traffic-dense bridges in the city. Raising safety concerns, GHMC authorities have pointed out to the HMWS&SB and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority that the trenchless tunneling work under progress to lay the trunk main sewers was very close to the pillars of the Basheerbagh flyover. “Unless the foundations of the flyover and stability of the pillars are checked, tunneling work should not be taken up. The HMDA has constructed the flyover and it has details about its foundations and piers. We have written to the HMDA also to verify the foundation,” GHMC engineer-in-chief R. Dhan Singh said.
The Water Board has been digging to a depth of between 4m and 7m to lay the huge trunk main sewers, a project that has been going on for the last several years. The drainage pipes are being laid from Kacheguda, Nimboli Adda up to Basheerbagh and Liberty. The HMWS&SB officials, however, claimed that due care has been taken to ensure that the foundations of the Basheerbagh flyover were not affected by the trenchless tunneling work.
Poor rainfall, shrinking lakes, depleting water levels in reservoirs and drawing of excess water through borewells have had an impact on the groundwater levels in different areas of the city.
Poor rainfall, shrinking lakes, depleting water levels in reservoirs and drawing of excess water through borewells have had an impact on the groundwater levels in different areas of the city.
A study of hydrographs indicates that over the years, water table has depleted in many places like Bowenpally, Aghapura, Erragadda, Basheerbagh, Langer Houz, Jubilee Hills, Begumpet, Koti, West Marredpally, Gudimalkapur, Musheerabad, Sanathnagar, Madhapur, said Dr. P.D. Sridevi, Principal Investigator of National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) on Friday.
Addressing a workshop on “Ground water in Hyderabad: Issues of Access and Regulation”, she said that the ground water being exploited through borewells from depths ranging up to 300 metres so much so that in the pre-monsoon, water level was plummeting between five metres to 20 metres Below Ground Level (BGL).
There was slight improvement post-monsoon with the BGL being two to 15 metres. Hyderabad and its surrounding areas like Shamshabad, Shamirpet, Medchal and Keesara were under the “Over Exploited” category as per the A.P. Ground Water Department’s 2010 report, she informed.
Metals like cadmium, nickel etc have also been detected beyond permissible levels in the ground water of Katedan, Nacharam, Jeedimetla and Patancheru industrial areas. The workshop was organised by Joint Action for Water (JAW), Chethana Society and other civic societies.
BJP Floor leader G. Kishen Reddy, who was the chief guest, said construction of rain harvesting pits, should be made conditional before building plans are approved. HMWSSB’s General Manager (Quality Assurance & Testing) K.S. Narsappa, said water supply was adequate till September. There was a heavy demand for tankers this season as a majority of borewells had gone dry.
Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy of Chethana Society requested the proposed Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority’s master draft plan for core city be put on hold. “The proposed plan does not have any provision for addressing drinking water issues. There is a drinking water shortage in the city already and it would worsen the situation further if HMDA was expanded,” said Mr. Reddy. A. Sridevi of JAW and others also spoke during the workshop.
HYDERABAD: As the holy Ramazan month is fast approaching, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is gearing up for an uninterrupted water supply to the mosques spread all over the twin cities.
With 40% of Muslim population in the city set to observe the holy month which commences on July 20, HMWS&SB is leaving no stone unturned to provide hassle-free water supply.
"We have decided to provide adequate water supply to around 5,000 mosques located in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Mecca Masjid and Idd Gha through mobile tankers in addition to the regular piped water supply," HMWS&SB director-technical, D Sundar Rami Reddy told TOI.
In addition to the existing tanker trips the water board will lay more emphasis on the localities in the old city. The board also will adjust the water supply timings and would release water during non-fasting hours i.e between 7 pm and 4.30 am in the old city area.
A water tanker will be separately arranged for making regular trips to Mecca Masjid. The tanker will fill the masjid sump during the entire Ramzan month. Moreover, the technical staff of the board will check water samples at all resorvoirs and distribution points to prevent contamination.
The staff will attend supply leakages and drainage overflows in the surrounding areasof Mecca Masjid during the holy month. Top priority would be accorded to attend complaints on leakages and drainage overflows, the official added.
The board will also attend desilting of sewers near the Mosques. Damaged manhole covers near the mosques will be replaced.
Water camps will be opened at Idd Gha to supply water sachets to the public.
HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) plans to test water pollution online during supply stage.
The Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), which conducted a two-month study on the water supply monitoring system in Greater Hyderabad, has recommended online monitoring to the Water Board. Incidentally, the Surat Municipal Corporation in Gujarat has been implementing the system on ASCI's recommendation for the past three years.
"Though the Water Board has been supplying treated water to its 7.90 lakh residents through the 6,823-km distribution network in the city and peripheral municipal circles, it does not have a mechanism to find sources of water contamination," ASCI director (Energy, Environment, Urban Governance and Infrastructure Development) V Srinivasa Chary told STOI.
"As a result, the HMWS&SB has been receiving complaints on water pollution frequently from the public. The Bholakpur incident, where 12 people died after consuming contaminated water, would not have happened had there been a proper monitoring mechanism. Once water is released from water treatment plants (WTPs) to the distribution network, there is no pollution check while the supplies are on," he added.
The ASCI team has recommended installation of sensors in the water supply distribution (pipeline) network to check water quality. "We can install sensors in the pipeline. The sensor alerts about contamination by sending data like name of the area, locality and distribution network to a server. The staff will monitor the network round the clock and alert officials on water pollution," the ASCI director said.
Though the online water monitoring system would be a little expensive, it would reduce operating cost of chemicals in the long run. The ASCI team also recommended testing of raw water samples from reservoirs once every three months instead of twice a year, cleaning reservoirs and intensifying patrolling along the shores of reservoirs, the ASCI official said.
"A HMWS&SB experts' team will visit Surat in the next few weeks to study the online water monitoring system," HMWS&SB Quality, Assurance and Testing (QA&T) Wing general manager K S Nasappa said.
The crucial third phase of Krishna Drinking Water Supply Scheme to meet the drinking needs of Greater Hyderabad hangs in balance due to the lackadaisical attitude of the state government in general and officials of the finance and municipal administration departments in particular to issuance of necessary orders.
If the third phase is completed, 90 million gallons of water per day (MGD) can be drawn from the Akkampally balancing reservoir. Already, the state capital is drawing 180 MGD of water from the Krishna under Phase-I and Phase-II schemes. In May this year, chief minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy gave green signal for taking up the Krishna Phase-III scheme with loan from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) to meet the increasing water needs of Greater Hyderabad. He asked the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) to complete the Krishna Phase-III project at any cost by December 2013. Even two months after the chief minister’s go-ahead, no official orders have been issued.
With the city facing drinking water crisis, all local MLAs, irrespective of their political affiliation, have been bringing pressure on the government for the last three years for release of Rs 1,670 crore for implementing the project.
The total allocation for drinking water needs of Hyderabad from river Krishna is 16.5 tmcft. Already, 11 tmcft of water is being drawn under the Phase-I and II schemes. There is no alternative now to drawing the remaining 5.5 tmcft of Krishna water as the Godavari project is a long-drawn affair.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that detailed project reports (DPRs) had been prepared long back and they were ready to execute the works once the government released the funds. It is learnt that the project is held up with the finance department seeking a clarification from the water board. Later, the matter has to be referred to the state cabinet for its nod.
Due to the rapid urbanisation after the merger of surrounding municipalities with Hyderabad, and the growth of the IT sector, ORR growth corridor and industrial clusters have created a huge water supply demand in addition to the normal domestic demand. The Osmansagar and Himayatsagar lakes, the city’s traditional drinking water sources, are drying up frequently. Added to the problem is the dwindling inflows to the Singur and Manjira reservoirs.
As of now, the city is experiencing a shortage of over 100 to 125 MGD of water. The situation is worse on the city’s outskirts where drinking water is being supplied once in four or five days.
HMWS&SB officials said that the main components of the proposed Krishna Phase-III scheme are construction of a water treatment plant (WTP) of 90 MGD capacity at Kodandapur (Rs 149 crore) and Clear Water Transmission Pipelines of pumping/gravity from Kodandapur to Sahebnagar (in 4 packages) for a total length of 114.3 km (Rs 943 crore), construction of Clear Water Reservoirs, MBRs for storage of 117 ML capacity to facilitate intermediate pumping at Kodandapur, Nasarlapally, Godakondla, construction of pump houses and erection of pumping equipment (Rs 65 crore) and laying of distribution trunk mains of 62 km length to connect to service reservoirs (Rs 150 crore).
The clear water transmission mains will be laid parallel to the existing pipelines along the Nagarjunasagar-Hyderabad road. Pump houses, transformers and sub-stations will be constructed at the existing premises adjacent to the Phase-I & II structures at respective campuses.
Rainfall refills city reservoirsHYDERABAD: Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) officials are upbeat after the season's first major bout of rain. Water levels at Osmansagar and Himayathsagar lakes have registered a rise after the heavy rainfall on Friday night.
"Due to fresh inflows, water levels at Osmansagar and Himayathsagar are up by two feet. Before the downpour on Friday, the water level at Osmansagar was 1,771 feet; it is now at 1,773 feet (full tank level (FTL) is 1790). Similarly at Himayathsagar, what was at 1,747 feet has now risen to 1,749 feet (FTL: 1763)," HMWS&SB chief general manager, transmission, V Visweswaraiah told STOI.
"We are expecting more inflows over the next two of days. The water level at both the reservoirs might go up by another feet by Sunday. This is the second spell of inflows into the reservoirs. During the first spell, when rainfall occurred on June 18, water level at Osmansagar rose by two feet and at Himayathsagar by five feet," he said.
"Now, the Water Board is in a position to supply water to the city till November. In case there are no more inflows, pumping will start from December-end onwards. Normally in winter, water consumption is lower as compared to summer," HMWS&SB general manager and in-charge of the two reservoirs, D Sridhar Babu, said.
At Manjira and Singur, too, water levels are on a steady rise due to the rain.
Hussainsagar lake was brimming with water on Saturday with the lake's FTL going up to 513.84 feet from 513.41 feet before the showers.
But, by 6.30pm, the water level had fallen to 513.80 feet after around 2,500 cusecs of water was discharged from the lake, GHMC superintending engineer, lakes, Rajeswar Reddy, said.
When contacted, GHMC commissioner MT Krishna Babu said that people living in the vicinity of Hussainsagar need not worry over the rise in water level in the lake. "We have instructed irrigation officials to take all necessary measures to discharge water from the lake as and when the levels increase," he said.
The heavy rainfall on Friday night resulted in the city reservoirs showing a significant improvement in the inflows. With the improvement in water levels, pumping activity which was stopped at both Osmansagar and Himayatsagar reservoirs is now expected to be restarted. The Osmansagar reservoir saw an increase of 0.202 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet in gross storage, taking the water level to 1771 feet on Saturday. The water levels in Himayatsagar saw an increase of 0.079 TMC from Friday to Saturday.
Meanwhile, the gross storage of Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Singur, Manjeera, and Akkampally together reached 13.306 TMC on Saturday against the total capacity of 39.738 TMC in the reservoirs. However, the current storage is still much lower, compared with the water level in the reservoirs last year — which was 21.125 TMC. However, officials are positive, expecting more inflows. The water levels in the key reservoirs of Osmansagar and Hima-yatsagar have risen by two and three feet respectively. “The levels are improving and with a forecast of more rainfall in the next few days, it is good news for the city,” said Water Board official Jitendra Kumar.
In its reply to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the Taj Banjara Hotel situated at Banjara Hills, has stated that it would construct its own sewage treatment plant (STP) by the end of the current financial year, that is by March 21, 2013.
The hotel was replying to a show-cause notice issued by the APPCB for violating pollution control rules regarding disposal of the sewage it generated, and not having its own STP as required. Though it admitted that it did not have its own STP, the hotel management said that it was not dumping the effluent into the Banjara Lake, but is sending it into the Hyderabad Metro Water Works Sewer Line. However, this has not mollified the APPCB. “We shall verify where their effluent are being sent and where all this untreated sewage ultimately ends up. If it is going into a water body that is not supposed to be polluted, and does not go to any common sewage treatment plant, action will be taken,” an APPCB official told Deccan Chronicle.
The violation had allegedly been going on unchecked all these years and was brought to the notice of the APPCB by a team from the ministry of environment and forests that visited the area in connection with the rejuvenation and rehabilitation of the Hamed Khan Kunta or Banjara Lake, the only lake in AP to be selected under the National Lake Conservation Plan. APPCB officials revealed that show-cause notices have also been issued to the office of a political party too.
A teacher damaged a student's eye when he tried to cane another student at Pydipalam village school in Makkavaripalem mandal, Visakhapatnam. The teacher inadvertently struck A Nagendra of Class IV on July 9. However, it came to light much later due to a tiff between teacher Venki Naidu and his brother. It was Venki Naidu's brother who let the cat out of the bag by informing the local media. This was immediately brought to the notice of the DEO Krishnaveni, who conducted an inquiry. It turned out that Venki Naidu promised to get the boy treated and in fact arranged for an operation at the Shankar Foundation Hospital on July 14. This was confirmed by the boy's mother, Lakshmi.
The government will complete the Krishna drinking water supply project (KDWSP) phase-III in 18 months, Hyderabad district in-charge and major industries minister J Geetha Reddy said. The project will bring additional 90 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Greater Hyderabad. On Monday, the minister held a review meeting with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) officials, Hyderabad collector Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi and secretary, finance department, L Premchandra Reddy on the status of the Krishna drinking water project-III at the Secretariat.
Building collapses, one feared dead
A commuter was feared killed when an old building collapsed on him near Dongala Mandapam area in Padamata Veedhi in Eluru on Monday night. Another commuter travelling on a bike was reportedly trapped under the debris. The authorities rushed to the spot to carry out rescue operations. Earlier in the day, another old building crumbed in Kattepu veedhi. However, there were no casualties as the building had no inmates.
In another incident at Likethepuram village in Narsapur mandal in West Godavari, a 60-year-old farm labourer died when the thatched roof collapsed on him.
Ventilator shortage kills infant
A five-month-old baby girl died at the 1,000-bed MGM Hospital in Warangal on Monday owing to shortage of ventilators. Parents of Yerra Manasa alleged that the doctors arranged the ventilator for another baby girl but denied the same to their daughter. Manasa died in the early hours after she developed severe breathing problems. The parents and relatives tried to attack the paramedical staff at the children's ward soon after the death of the infant. The Mattewada police rushed to the spot and pacified the agitators. When contacted, RMO Vishnumohan said Manasa had suffered meningitis (brain fever) disease. "In view of a health emergency of another child whose condition had deteriorated, the duty doctors had to arrange a ventilator. Manasa was brain dead," he said. tnnManasa was admitted to MGM on August 1. The parents belong to Veldandi village of Narmetta mandal.
A senior doctor said MGM hospital requires 40 ventilators but only seven out of 14 ventilators are in working condition. "How can we manage with the shortage of ventilators," he sought to know.
Bhadrachalam Road - Sattupalli railway line
The Bhadrachalam Road - Sattupalli railway line project has now inched closer to completion as Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) which is financing the project paid Rs 6.38 crore on Monday to South Central Railway (SCR), which will execute the works. According to a release, Sutirtha Bhattacharya, chairman and managing director of SCCL, presented the cheque for conducting the final location survey. The project was sanctioned by the railways in 2010-11 at an estimated cost of Rs 337.50 crore. The 56.2-km railway line was planned to facilitate smooth movement of coal from Singareni Colleries opencast projects in Sattupalli area. The production from these mines is about six million tones.
The issue of water stagnation at Bagh Amberpet will be sorted out soon, GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu said here at Bagh Amberpet on Tuesday. He was accompanied by Gnaneshwar Goud, corporator of the area, and other officials.
Most of the areas are being flooded with storm water due to heavy rains and the water is entering the houses due to heavy pressure causing much inconvenience including damage to walls at Bagh Amberpet.
Storm water drain pipelines which were laid several years back are not able to cope up with the present flow of water. Garbage is being dumped in the drains, sewerage lines, water supply lines and service cables are criss-crossing the storm water drain, causing hurdles to free flow of water.
A GHMC press release said the issue of water stagnation at several points on the recently laid CC roads will be sorted out soon. Proposal for laying bypass line for storm water drain from Vaibhav Nagar through open space, which can be connected to the designed section of nala, will be put under 13th Finance Commission grants.
Officials will coordinate with APCPDCL and HMWS&SB to realign the power cables and water supply lines which are causing obstruction to the flow of storm water. Officials inspected Bagh Amberpet, Shivam Road, Excise Colony, Bathukamma Kunta, Pamula Basthi and Vaibhav Nagar.