Drinking water crisis looming over Hyderabad

Hyderabad: With larger issues relating to inter-state sharing of Krishna water remaining unaddressed, it looks like Telangana State cannot help bearing the brunt of drinking water crisis whenever there is deficit rainfall.  Some of the bifurcation blues have vanished.  However, the long-pending issue over proper sharing Krishna river water between Karnataka and the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, as a way to address acute drinking water problem in the State capital during periods of deficit rain, is still haunting the Telangana government.

This is evident from the fact that the Karnataka government turned a deaf ear to the Telangana government’s plea to release of 15 tmc of Krishna water to help meet the drinking water requirement in Hyderabad and fluoride-hit Nalgonda district.  The TS government duly sent an official letter in this regard to Karnataka 10 days ago.

On August 8th, Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao shot off a letter to



his Karnataka counterpart MB Patil, seeking immediate release of water.  Although the TS Minister did highlight the acute drinking water crisis facing people in Hyderabad, his Karnataka ounterpart has not responded positively till date.

On Friday, water storage levels dipped to 500 ft, far below the dead storage level of 510 ft at Srisailam; while in Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir, the registered water level was only 780 ft. The full reservoir level (FRL) of the dam is 885 ft.  A total of 650 mgd (million gallons per day) is required to meet the drinking water requirement in Hyderabad. Under these circumstances, the government could meet less than 50 per cent the water requirement in the city.

Top officials of the State Irrigation Department told  that the Karnataka government has been diverting inflows from the Krishna river at Almatti and Narayanpur dams to its locally created water bodies—Farm Ponds—for irrigation purpose.