Telangana govt needs to find alternative sources for drinking water as Singur storage limited to 16.5 TMCft

Hyderabad and Sangareddy may face drinking water shortages as Singur dam storage is limited to 16.5 TMCft following safety warnings. With a 13 TMCft deficit, officials seek alternative sources and Rs 16.5 crore for urgent repairs

Sangareddy: Hyderabad city and Sangareddy may face drinking water scarcity this year since the government permitted the Irrigation Department to restrict the storage in Singur project to just 16.5 TMCft against its full storage capacity of 29.91 TMCft following the advice of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA).

A report submitted by the NDSA expert team, which inspected the dam in June this year, warned the State government of serious structural damage to the project and ordered the government to take urgent repairs. Following this, the Irrigation Department initially obtained permission to restrict the storage to 22 TMCft, which was later reduced to 16.5 TMCft.

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Despite Singur receiving heavy inflows in August, officials were forced to let the water flow down the project by lifting crest gates. According to sources in the department, nearly 7 TMCft of water from Singur is earmarked annually for Hyderabad’s drinking water needs, while 5.70 TMCft will be used to supply Sangareddy and Medak through Mission Bhagiratha.

While 8.35 TMCft of water will be released to Nizam Sagar to meet the irrigation needs of Kamareddy district, 4.06 TMCft will be used for irrigation needs of Medak under Ghanpur anicut. Another 2 TMCft of water will be released for ayacut under Singur canals in Sangareddy district to meet the Vanakalam and Yasangi needs.

With a deficit of more than 13 TMCft in Singur this water year, the government will need alternative sources to meet Hyderabad’s drinking water requirements.

Meanwhile, irrigation officials have sent a proposal seeking Rs 16.5 crore for repair works on the dam’s earth revetment. On Friday, the project received 13,315 cusecs from upstream while releasing 9,902 cusecs downstream by operating one crest gate and the power house at 6 pm. Four crest gates were closed as inflows receded.