Water Board blamed as ground water falls

Move To Dig 25,000 Recharge Pits After Collecting 25Cr As Fee From Residents Falls Flat

Sunil Mungara TNN

Hyderabad: No one but the government seems to be responsible for doing precious little to save the city from the depleting ground water. Way back in 2005, the government had collected a whopping Rs 25 crore as fee from residents for digging 25,000 recharge pits to save the city, but seven years later, only a meagre 1,200 pits have been dug and angry residents are now questioning where has their money gone?
    “I coughed up Rs 10,000 from my monthly budget in 2005 hoping that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) would dig up a pit in my backyard,” said D Venkat Rao, a resident of Khairatabad.
    “Many like me have been waiting for seven years without any result and now I want my money back with interest,” he told STOI.
    Scientists at the premier National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) said last month that ground water in Hyderabad along with other major metros were declining at such a rapid pace that in three years the state capital could virtually go bone dry.
    The scientists have stressed the need for every household in the city to dig a minimum 3 x 10 feet pit to collect rain water from the roof and divert it to the pits to recharge the ground water.
    Authorities admit the problem and say they depend on Nagarjunasagar reservoir, about 140 km away, to meet the city’s drinking water requirements, and blame indiscriminate digging of borewells and encroachment of lakes and water tanks for the grim situation.
    But Hyderabadis are pointing fingers at the Water Board for taking them for a merry ride, who have admitted their fault, which many activists say is probably a little too late.
    Authorities said locating appropriate land for constructing rainwater harvesting pits and getting permission from societies in multi-storied buildings turned out to be a stumbling block.
    In 2005, the state government had made it mandatory for customers applying for new and enhanced water connections to pay consultancy and construction charges to dig water harvesting pits on their premises.
    A pit for an individual house on a plot area between 200 and 300 sq metres would have cost a resident around Rs 2,500 and for a multi-storied building, the cost was estimated to be around Rs 7,500.
    It would also go up to Rs 32,500 for a multi-storeyed building in an area above 900 sq metres, they said.
    Now the Water Board, after realising its mistake, has asked customers who have already paid money for the pits to come again with the receipt.
    “A team of technical staff will visit the customer’s residence and identify the space for construction of structure,” A Satyanarayana, assistant director at the groundwater department said.
    He promised that the Board would dig up the remaining 23,000 pits now, provided residents extended cooperation. Many residents said they were no longer amused by the antics.
    “It is not funny anymore. We have gone there dozens of times and also offered land and now they want to harass us again. We do not believe them anymore,” Jagdishwar Rao, a retired engineer from Ameerpet, said.