Hyderabad’s plan to become a tanker-free city by the end of 2028 is not simply a promise to add more water. It is a test of whether the city can align new supply, ageing pipelines, sewerage expansion, groundwater regulation, storage and the rapid growth of its peripheral districts into one functioning urban system. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) says the proposed commissioning of Godavari Phase II and III, together expected to add 320 million gallons per day, will allow it to move towards daily or uninterrupted supply across the CURE area. But the target also reveals how heavily the city currently depends on emergency and private distribution networks.
According to HMWSSB managing director K Ashok Reddy, the board is aiming to make Hyderabad tanker-free by the end of 2028. The statement, reported in response to reader queries, comes alongside a set of measures covering water augmentation, tanker regulation, groundwater protection, sewerage, rainwater harvesting and treated wastewater reuse. Together, these plans indicate that the tanker problem is being treated as both a supply shortage and a distribution failure.
The immediate scale of the existing arrangement is significant. HMWSSB currently operates 96 filling stations and around 1,500 water tankers in the CURE area. For the coming summer, the board has proposed 15 additional filling stations and the registration of more than 300 tankers. These numbers show that tankers remain embedded in Hyderabad’s water-supply architecture, particularly in shortage-prone and fast-growing locations. The stated objective is to progressively expand organised municipal supply so that households no longer need to purchase expensive private tanker water.
The geography of demand is central to the problem. HMWSSB has identified peripheral and rapidly developing areas, including Kollur, Gachibowli, Kokapet and Neopolis, for special attention. These locations combine substantial residential and commercial construction with infrastructure that has had to catch up with growth. In such areas, the question is not only whether the metropolitan region has access to additional water at source. It is whether transmission lines, local distribution networks, storage facilities and pumping systems can deliver that water reliably to new neighbourhoods.
That distinction matters because HMWSSB maintains a piped network extending about 15,000 kilometres, with pipelines ranging from two to 50 years old. The board says it is carrying out inspections, repairs and maintenance to reduce transmission and distribution losses. It is also reviewing the system to address uneven supply between localities, where frequency varies according to source availability, elevation, network configuration, storage capacity and local demand. The presence of a large network therefore does not guarantee an equal service. Water can be available in the system while remaining unreliable at the household level because of local hydraulic and storage constraints.
The proposed Godavari augmentation is intended to address part of this gap. HMWSSB says Phase II and III are expected to add 320 MGD by the end of 2027. It plans to complete a ring main connecting all water sources by the time these phases are commissioned, with the stated objective of enabling more equitable distribution across the CURE area. The board has also engaged Tata Consultancy Services to prepare a master plan that will propose additional storage facilities in different localities. This places storage and network integration alongside source augmentation as part of the longer-term solution.
The institutional challenge is made more complex by the recent expansion of the service area. HMWSSB said that most urban local bodies were merged with it only recently and that the distribution system is under review. This means the tanker-free target involves more than extending pipes into new layouts. It requires the board to integrate areas with different levels of existing infrastructure, varied development patterns and potentially different service expectations. The proposed master plan for 2047 covering the entire CURE area is intended to provide a longer-term framework, although the reported material does not establish its final scope, funding structure or implementation timetable.
Groundwater regulation is another part of the strategy. The government has issued an order aimed at preventing illegal extraction of groundwater for non-domestic purposes by bulk users. HMWSSB says action will be taken against violations under applicable rules. The measure is significant because private tanker operations can shift pressure from the municipal network to aquifers, making the immediate shortage less visible while increasing dependence on a resource that is difficult to monitor and replenish. The source material does not provide figures on groundwater levels or the volume extracted by private tankers, so the scale of this pressure remains unquantified in the current account.
Rainwater harvesting is already part of the applicable regulations, but HMWSSB acknowledges that rules alone are insufficient. The board has conducted a survey and undertaken a programme to convert approximately 700 unused borewells into injection wells for groundwater recharge. This approach links abandoned or unused infrastructure with conservation, but its success will depend on whether recharge structures remain functional, are maintained and receive suitable runoff. The board itself identifies implementation on the ground as the critical issue.
Sewerage is equally important to the water question because an expanding city cannot secure long-term supply while allowing untreated wastewater to pollute its water bodies. HMWSSB says it has installed sewage treatment plants along the Musi and near other lakes, and that treated water is released into lakes to help maintain their hydrology. It is also expanding and upgrading the sewerage network so that sewage is intercepted and conveyed to treatment plants. Sewerage diversion mains are being developed by HMWSSB, the Lakes Division and HYDRAA, while HYDRAA, the Telangana Pollution Control Board and other enforcement agencies are involved in identifying and acting against illegal or unauthorised discharges.
The proposed reuse network adds an industrial dimension to the plan. HMWSSB intends to develop conveyance and distribution infrastructure for secondary-treated wastewater from selected sewage treatment plants. Potential users include data centres operated by Microsoft, Amazon and CtrlS, along with manufacturing units such as Welspun in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region. Two proposed corridors are identified: from Attapur STP to Chandanvelly, and from Nagole STPs to Future City. The ultimate demand is estimated at 500 MLD, and the project is proposed to begin from the following month, according to the report.
This proposal could separate potable water demand from some high-volume industrial and commercial uses, including landscaping and other non-potable applications. HMWSSB has also said that the use of treated sewage for gardening, landscaping, fountains and similar purposes will be enforced, subject to availability. However, the supplied material does not specify the project’s capital cost, treatment standards beyond the reference to secondary-treated wastewater, tariff structure, delivery contracts or monitoring arrangements. Those details will determine whether reuse becomes a dependable network or remains a series of individual projects.
High-rise development adds another layer of pressure. HMWSSB says it assesses water-supply feasibility for proposed large residential projects based on population, dwelling units, occupancy and applicable demand norms. It also considers the capacity of the existing transmission and distribution network, nearby reservoirs and pumping infrastructure. This framework recognises that building permissions and water availability cannot be separated in a rapidly urbanising metropolitan region. The effectiveness of the approach will depend on whether infrastructure capacity is assessed before development intensifies and whether approved projects are matched by completed supply systems.
The tanker-free target therefore rests on several linked milestones: Godavari Phase II and III by the end of 2027; completion of the ring main; new storage identified through the TCS master plan; sewerage and lake-protection works; enforcement against illegal extraction and unauthorised tanker branding; and the expansion of municipal networks in peripheral districts. Any one of these measures can improve conditions, but the reported plan does not suggest that source augmentation alone will end tanker dependence.
What Hyderabad’s programme ultimately confirms is that water insecurity in a growing city is produced at the intersection of supply, distribution, land-use change, groundwater management and wastewater governance. HMWSSB has set a clear deadline and identified measurable infrastructure components, including 320 MGD of additional supply, 15 proposed filling stations, a 15,000-kilometre network and approximately 700 recharge conversions. The next test will be whether these separate interventions are delivered as an integrated system, and whether the board can demonstrate that peripheral growth is being matched by reliable municipal service rather than by a larger private tanker market.
