Hyderabad loses 35pc of drinking water due to pipeline leaks and illegal tapping

Hyderabad: Even as Greater Hyderabad grapples with drying water reserves and surging demand, a portion of the city’s treated drinking water is vanishing before it even reaches households’ taps.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board supplies about 580 million gallons of drinking water daily (MGD) into Greater Hyderabad. Of this, the water board officials concede, nearly 35pc of the city’s pumped water is lost daily because of ageing pipelines, burst valves and illegal tapping across the 14,000-km supply network.

One in every 3 litres of water treated and pumped in Hyderabad fails to reach consumers because of leaks in the supply grid, despite high financial and energy costs. Millions of gallons seep beneath city roads while families in tail-end colonies await meagre supplies and free emergency tankers amid the water crisis.

High-pressure trunk mains carrying Godavari, Krishna, Singur and Manjeera water lose large volumes through failing joints and leaking air valves before reaching city limits.

Within the city, decades-old cast-iron and cement pipelines buckle under traffic vibrations and shifting soil, causing underground seepage and road-flooding bursts.

The resulting one-third loss, if saved, could supply thousands of homes without additional withdrawals from shrinking reservoirs, said the official.

For thousands of families in thre notified slums and peripheral settlements, the arrival of a free HMWSSB tanker is a critical daily event. However, significant quantities of drinking water are being wasted as residents fill pots during the supply process.

“As the water board races to plug leaks and achieve a ‘tanker-free’ Hyderabad by 2028, repairing the leaky grid remains the biggest hurdle to saving every drop,” said an HMWSSB official.

HMWSSB engineers said the Water Board receives around 500 to 600 complaints daily on leakages caused by ageing infrastructure. An official said many cast-iron and cement pipelines laid three to five decades ago are frequently damaged by heavy vehicles, road widening, telecom cabling and stormwater drain works.

HMWSSB’s tagline ‘Every drop counts’ now slips away on the ground reality

‘Every drop Counts’ happens to be HMWSSB’s guiding tagline that is printed on its tanker fleet, bills and awareness campaigns. However, that tagline faces scrutiny amid concerns over the continuing T&D losses.