Hyderabad faces water emergency as reservoir levels drop; 6,000–8,000 tanker bookings a day

Hyderabad’s water board has declared a water emergency as the reservoirs that supply the city run low, ThePrint reported, with tanker bookings climbing to between 6,000 and 8,000 a day and some areas getting piped drinking water only once every three to four days.

On Sunday, the Telangana government decided to divert Godavari water to parts of Hyderabad that depend on the Singur and Manjira reservoirs, which are fast declining, The Hindu reported. Following Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s directions, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has started work near Velimela village, close to the Outer Ring Road, to link the 3,000-mm Godavari ring main with the 1,200-mm Manjira Phase-III and IV gravity mains.

The numbers explain the urgency. Combined storage in the Osman Sagar, Himayat Sagar, Singur, Manjeera and Akkampally reservoirs stood at 8.9 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) on 24 October, against 25.9 TMC on the same date last year, according to HMWSSB data reported by The Times of India. Singur has fallen from 16.62 TMC to 3.14 TMC, a drop of about 81%, while Manjeera is down more than 84% to just 0.22 TMC.

The board expects some reservoirs to run out of usable water between mid-December and the end of December, ThePrint reported. The shortage follows a weak monsoon blamed on El Niño: only three of Hyderabad’s 16 mandals have received sufficient rainfall.

With supply stretched, residents are turning to tankers. HMWSSB Managing Director K. Ashok Reddy has directed officials to bring in additional tanker operators and begin registering them. Several areas in Secunderabad Cantonment and on the city’s outskirts have reported acute shortages.

“With water in the Singur Dam and Nagarjuna Sagar Dam dropping to precarious levels because of sparse rainfall, the HMWSSB is actively shifting its standard alternate-day supply schedule to a restricted routine of once every three days for major parts of the city to conserve what remains,” Reddy said at a review meeting, according to ThePrint.

Officials are looking for more water. “We are exploring alternative water arrangements, including additional supplies through the Godavari Drinking Water Scheme and the possibility of drawing more Krishna water,” Reddy said, adding that extra filter beds at Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar and the use of treated wastewater for construction, landscaping and industry were also under consideration.

From 1 November, the board will run “green water tanker” services that supply treated wastewater for construction, landscaping and other non-drinking uses, Siasat reported. HMWSSB has also urged residents to cut their water use by 20%.

Rumours that Hyderabad’s supply would stop altogether in November are not true, the board has said. Earlier this month, HMWSSB flagged as false a message circulating on WhatsApp and social media which claimed most reservoirs would run dry by the end of November, leading to “severely limited or no water supply”. “We urge the public not to believe unverified messages that come in the name of Jalmandali and not to forward them to others,” the board said in its post on X, as quoted by The Hindu.