The city’s water problem is turning acute as a large number of borewells have dried up, with experts attributing the worsening situation to the absence of rainwater harvesting (RWH) structures. Hyderabad’s residents primarily depend on groundwater for all purposes barring drinking and cooking. With the groundwater table depleting fast, experts said the main villains are the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the Water Board, the two civic agencies that failed to implement the RWH pits scheme.
According to information, GHMC and a few other municipalities collected more than Rs 50 crore and the Water Board collected another Rs 22 crore, from applicants while approving building plans and new water connections, respectively. But the money was not spent on constructing the RWH pits. While the Water Board diverted the money it collected for other uses, GHMC officials claimed they will now spend the money on making RWH pits and are calling for tenders.
According to 2011 census, there are over 15 lakh households in the city but there are fewer than 20,000 RWH pits, environmental experts said. “The state government can save thousands of crores of rupees spent on bringing water from Godavari and Krishna Phase-III if only we could tap rainwater,” Forum for Good Governance secretary Padmanabha Reddy told this newspaper. Venu Gopal, a resident of Sitaphalmandi, said, “It is the government’s failure to effectively implement the Water, Air, Land and Trees (WALTA) Act, 2002. They are primarily responsible for borewells drying up. WALTA Act makes it compulsory for GHMC, the water board and Central Discom to insist that applicants construct RWH pits.”