GHMC halts potable water use for urban greenery, turns to STP water

GHMC has stopped using fresh drinking water for parks and road medians in Hyderabad. All greenery will now be watered with treated water from sewage treatment plants, supplied by repurposed “green tankers”, to ease pressure on groundwater and reservoirs ahead of a possible summer water crisis.

Hyderabad: In a major shift aimed at insulating the city against an impending summer water crisis, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has officially decided to halt the use of fresh drinking water for maintaining urban greenery.

With immediate effect, all major, median and small public parks, colony lung spaces, and central medians on major avenues across the twin cities will switch over completely to treated water sourced from local Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs).

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The joint initiative, fast-tracked in coordination with the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), is designed to pull the urban landscape back from severe groundwater depletion and stress on reservoirs.

“The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)-Urban Biodiversity (UBD) wing has officially reprogrammed its entire dedicated fleet of 50 to 60 municipal water tankers into ‘Green Tankers’. These vehicles will draw exclusively from decentralized Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to sustain the city’s vast network of parks, urban forestry initiatives, and central medians on the main roads and under flyovers,” a senior GHMC-UBD wing official told Telangana Today.

Deficit rainfall has dried up the majority of GHMC borewells and depleted water levels in park ponds. To keep major spaces like Krishna Kanth Park and Jalagam Vengal Rao Park green for daily visitors, the GHMC UBD wing is successfully sustaining the lawns using water tankers, he said.

GHMC is maintaining water tankers with capacities of 5,000 litres and 12,000 litres and drawing treated water, he said.

KBR Park is utilizing four to five tankers of treated water to maintain its greenery amidst the water shortage, according to Park Manager L. Srinivas in an interview with Telangana Today. He noted that the number of tankers will be increased if the demand arises.