Apartments in newer parts of city start ordering water tankers

 Hyderabad: With the mercury levels already rising due to changes in winds propelled by global warming, summer woes have already hit the city, with many gated communities and apartments already initiating orders for water tankers due to water shortage.

Checks by Deccan Chronicle found among those ordering water tankers a gated community in Whitefields of Kondapur, two apartments in Gayatri Hills of Jubilee Hills Road No. 10, multiple individual buildings in Employees Colony of Manikonda and an apartment complex in Deepthisri Nagar of Miyapur.

Residents here said that the practice was followed over the past few years, with dependency on water tankers starting in January and hitting the peak in May.

“Every week, we are procuring one tanker. One flat owner or a tenant pays Rs 500 every week for the water tanker,” a resident staying in an apartment on Jubilee Hills Road No. 10 said.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is supplying 550 million gallons per day (MGD) and the supply is all set to increase by 600 MGD in summer.

HMWS&SB officials said that the supply has not decreased. “In January first week, to execute developmental works, we had to halt the supply of water for 24 hours. However, the supply has not been decreased,” said an HMWS&SB official.

They said that to address summer water woes, they have an action plan in place for 2024, under which they will complete Phase 2 of the Outer Ring Road project by March and boost supply in areas located between the GHMC limits and ORR.

While the water supply through this project does not include boosting the supply in GHMC limits, in the core city, the HMWS&SB is planning to check the functioning of borewells, undertake repairs on war footing and make alternate arrangements at pumping stations for emergency disruptions.