Singur reservoir, a key drinking-water source for western Hyderabad and thousands of rural and urban settlements across Telangana, is expected to support current supply levels only until November 9, with emergency pumping from its dead storage level potentially extending supplies until December 10.
The reservoir had 3.416 tmc ft of water remaining as of October 17, according to information reported by Deccan Chronicle. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board is making alternative arrangements to augment supplies to Hyderabad areas dependent on Singur, while departments are working on contingency plans for the other urban local bodies and rural habitations served by the reservoir.
Singur supplies drinking water to western parts of the Greater Hyderabad area and interior locations including Khairatabad. Its network also supports several urban local bodies and 2,395 rural habitations under the Mission Bhagiratha scheme, making the reservoir’s depletion a wider regional supply concern rather than a Hyderabad-only issue.
Under the Mission Bhagiratha distribution system, Singur water serves 852 rural habitations and 12 urban local bodies in Sangareddy district. In Medak, it supplies 805 rural habitations and two urban local bodies. The reservoir also serves 202 rural habitations and one urban local body in Nizamabad district, along with 536 rural habitations and three urban local bodies in Kamareddy district.
At current supply levels, the available water is expected to last for 23 days from October 17, taking supplies to November 9. Once the reservoir reaches levels that cannot support normal withdrawal, emergency pumping from the dead storage level may extend availability to December 10. Dead storage is water that remains in a reservoir below the level normally accessible through standard gravity-based or routine pumping arrangements.
The Hyderabad water utility is focusing on alternative arrangements for areas within the city that receive Singur water. However, the state’s rural and municipal water-supply agencies must also address the requirements of the habitations and urban local bodies dependent on the same source.
When Singur water is exhausted, groundwater sources are expected to be used in rural areas. Tankers may also be deployed where necessary to transport water to affected habitations, according to the report. The scale and timing of these measures will determine how the transition is managed across settlements with different levels of access to local water sources and distribution infrastructure.
The panchayat raj department has written to the engineer-in-chief of the public health and municipal engineering department seeking alternative water-supply arrangements for the affected urban local bodies from December 10. That departmental coordination is the next stated step in preparing for the point at which emergency pumping from Singur can no longer sustain supply.
