Emergency pumping begins at Nagarjuna Sagar

In the next few weeks, the water board will also make arrangements to supply drinking water through submersible pumps.

Hyderabad: To ensure Hyderabad has access to uninterrupted supply of drinking water during the ongoing summer, emergency pumping with 10 pumping motors began at Nagarjuna Sagar on Saturday.

The second phase of pumping will also be taken-up in the coming days, if the need arises, Water Board MD Sudarshan Reddy on Saturday said.

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In the next few weeks, the water board will also make arrangements to supply drinking water through submersible pumps.

From May 15, emergency pumping of water will be carried out at the Yellampally Reservoir. Assuring that there is enough reserves of water at Himayatsagar, Osmansagar, and Singur, the Water Board MD said that the department is ready to draw water from these water bodies if the need arises. As of April 20, the water storage capacity of Nagarjuna Sagar is 127.630 TMC which is at 507.6 feet. On the same day last year, there were 156.67 TMC at 524 feet of water.

The full tank level of Nagarjuna Sagar is 590 feet and it is now at dead storage level. Because of this deficit, after a period of 7 years, the Water Board has take-up emergency pumping of water from Nagarjuna Sagar, he said.

With Hyderabad expanding up to Outer Ring Road (ORR), to meet the drinking water needs of the growing population, the Water Board is drawing Krishna drinking water supply phase 1, 2 and 3 from Nagarjuna Sagar, Akkampally Balancing Reservoir.

A total of 270 MGD of drinking water is being supplied to Hyderabad from these two (Nagarjuna Sagar and Akkampally) on a daily basis.

Based on this calculation, every month, about 1.38 TMC of water is supplied per month to Hyderabad. Sudarshan Reddy said that when compared to last year, the Water Board this year is supplying an additional 175 MLD, especially in those areas were the borewells have gone dry.

Moreover, from April 15, an additional 7 MGD (30 MLD) of water is being supplied to Hyderabad. The Water Board is also preparing to supply an additional 30 MLD of drinking water from May 15, he said.