Hyderabad:The area around the man-made twin reservoirs of Osmansagar and Himayatsagar has seen a spurt of of development in recent years. Educational institutions, resorts, industrial units and residential areas have come up in the area.
The narrow Gandipet-Shankarpally road was widened to 100 feet last year. The road, which is near Himayatsagar, is on the lake-bed.
Real estate development and land encroachments around the man-made twin reservoirs, which produce drinking water for the city, have been a bone of contention for some time. A recent report submitted by a committee constituted by the state government, claims that there are about 12,442 illegal constructions and nearly 426 unauthorised layouts around the lakes.
Environmentalists raise concerns that the spurt in real estate has hurt the quality and quantity of water in the lakes. However, the government has recently said that the lakes are by now almost extinct and redundant, and that the city is no longer dependent on water from these lakes.
The city draws approximately 400 million gallons per day (mgd) water to furnish the needs of the people.
About 270 mgd of water comes from the Krishna and nearly 132 mgd comes from the Godavari. The remaining portion comes from the Manjeera River. Chief general manager, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewage, Vijay Kumar Reddy said the twin lakes together provide around 45 mgd of water, which is about 10 per cent of the city consumption.
He said that the lakes were unreliable, as the water level depended on the rainfall. He added that the lakes were used in case of emergencies to add to the supply of water to the city.
According to the HMWSS, the government spends approximately Rs 65 crore a month to bring water from the rivers for distribution in the city.
However, it can save roughly Rs 6 to Rs 7 crore a month if the twin lakes were properly used since the water from the lakes is more accessible.
