Hyderabad, September 02: Every drop of water from the Hussainsagar will soon command a price as the Hyderabad Metropo-litan Development Autho-rity wants to be paid for water drawn from the lake once it starts releasing treated water into it.
Officials said the cost of treating the waters work-ed out to Rs 7 per kilo litre. The lake water would thus be costlier than the potable water being supplied — although at a highly subsidised rate of `6 per KL — to by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sew-erage Board.
About 25 million litres of water is drawn daily from the lake for gardening, curing of industrial products and for purposes other than drinking and bathing.
The Osmania University draws nearly 5 MLD every day through the underground line laid from the lake to the campus. There are also 33 industries including VST and Indian Hume Pipes that get over 5 MLD water from the lake. Another MLD goes to Dhobhi Ghat at Lower Tank Bund.
The GHMC too draws about 15 MLD for the parks of the city. In all, there are 56 connections draw water from lake.
“These agencies are using the lake water for a pittance. Though only 40 paise per KL has been fixed, the GHMC never insists on payment because of the murky water. We get only Rs 24,000 per month for 25 MLD supplied daily,” said the GHMC Executive Eng-ineer, Mr Nityanandam.
The HMDA has taken up the Hussainsagar Lake and Catchment Area Improvement Project at an estimated cost of `370 crore, with aid from the Japan International Coo-peration Agency. The project is expected to be completed by December 2012.
The project Superi-ntending Engineer, Mr B.L.N. Reddy, said the government had recently given permission to fix a price for the treated water. Once the project is completed, the lake’s hydrology will be maintained at nearly one TMC of treated water.
—DC