1,300-acre Osmania University fails to boost groundwater

Hyderabad: The Osmania University is a perfect example of the dwindling groundwater situation in Hyderabad. The university, spread over 1,300 acres, is a small town in itself with nearly 30,000 regular inhabitants, including around 10,000 hostellers in 16 hostels and residents of the university's staff quarters. A large number of the inhabitants are also illegal hostel dwellers.

The campus has around 60 bore wells which were sunk over a period of time and one by one, most of them have gone dry. Currently only around six bore wells are functioning and that too not to their optimum capacity. Most of the dried up bore wells have been dug till 500 feet, while a few till 1,000 feet. As a consequence the university is supplying water from water tankers to satisfy the needs of not just the inhabitants but also of students and faculty who come to the university's 53 departments daily.

As per university officials, every day around 25 tankers, each of 6,000 litres, are supplied, amounting to usage of around 1,50,000 litres of water per day. Despite this, the varsity gets regular complaints of water scarcity from the hostellers, some of whom can be seen in the mornings going from one hostel to another for water or taking bath outside, near water tanks.

The university's fault in maintaining groundwater cannot be ruled out as there are fewer than 20 rainwater harvesting pits on its 1,300 acre campus, a large potion of which are not covered with concrete. Some officials also blame the university's lack of enthusiasm in maintaining the bore wells. However, the present water crisis seems to have alerted the university administration as it was recently decided to have more rainwater harvesting pits on campus so that rainwater from this year's monsoon does not go to waste. The varsity’s Geophysics department has been told to utilise satellite mapping to indicate points on the campus where these pits can be constructed in a week’s time.