Hyderabad, January 25: Residents of several areas may face severe water crisis in the coming summer as ground water levels have plummeted to alarming levels. Marredpally and its surrounding areas may be the worst hit as water level has sunk as low as 24 metres below ground level (BGL).
According to the ground water department officials, water levels were recorded between 3.60 metres and 24 metres BGL in the city in December 2011. They attribute the grim situation to deficit rainfall and over exploitation of ground water.
“Marredpally has set a record low in the twin cities by recording water at a depth of 24 meters BGL. A drastic fall in water levels has also been observed in areas like Sanjeevareddy Nagar, Ameerpet, Nampally, Gachibowli, Shaikpet, Asifnagar, Bandlaguda, Charminar and Saidabad. In S R Nagar and Ameerpet, the groundwater levels are reported between 10 and 20 metres below ground level,” deputy director, ground water department, K Dhanunjaya told TOI.
In 2011-12, the Hyderabad district had received 577.40 millimetres of rainfall against the normal of 787.40 mm. The net rainfall of the district recorded between December 2010 and 2011 was 3.909 meters due to deficit rainfall (-27%).
In the case of Marredpally mandal, the water level fell to alarming levels from 14.25 metres in 2010 to 24 metres BGL in 2011, he added.
In Ameerpet and SR Nagar, the water level fell from 17.98 metres BGL to 19 metres BGL, while in Nampally it has gone down from 4.34 metres to 9.2 metres BGL.
“As hundreds of apartment complexes have come up in a span of five years, there is over exploitation of ground water. Though rain water harvesting structures have been constructed, due to lack of awareness among citizens, they have not been properly maintained,” he added.
When contacted, HMWS&SB general manager K Vijaya Rao said: “We are supplying around 200 tankers a day to colonies in Marredpally. Normally, the demand for tankers start from March-end, but we have been getting requests from December itself.”
In view of the drastic fall in the ground water level, the Water Board has started making arrangements to supply water this summer, he replied.
-TOI