Water tanker bookings plummet as monsoon makes an early onset
Hyderabad: With the early onset of the southwest monsoon, apartments and gated communities in the western corridor are experiencing respite from the severe water crisis that plagued them since summer, as bookings in their region went down by up to 50%.
At the peak of the crisis, these residential complexes relied heavily on water tankers, with around 60% of total water bookings being made solely for their corridor. As the rains lashed the city last week, dependence on water tankers decreased across various divisions in the western corridor, including Durgam Cheruvu (Raidurg), Manikonda, Kukatpally, Nizampet, and Hafeezpet.
For instance, the Durgam Cheruvu division, among 22 divisions in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), used to consume close to 2,000 tankers a day during the peak summer, accounting for 20% of the total consumption of tankers across the city.
This number has now come down by half to 1,000.
"A week ago, residents were ordering 1,800 tankers across our division, encompassing Ayyappa Society, Kondapur, Madhapur, and Gachibowli. Currently, the demand has reduced to 1,000 following rainfall and groundwater recharge. During any season, tanker bookings typically remain at 800, as certain areas lack borewell water access and depend on tankers every alternative day when water supply is limited," said a senior official in Durgam Cheruvu division, HMWSSB.
Residents say that during the peak summer, gated communities were booking two to four water tankers per day, and now their dependence is reduced to one tanker every two or three days. "The water consumption pattern in our neighbourhood has significantly changed. Currently, apartments are ordering one tanker every two to three days, compared to the previous usage of one to two tankers daily. Notably, residents of Laxmi Priya Colony, who were once heavily dependent on water tankers, have no longer had to place orders due to enhanced water supply from HMWSSB and improved groundwater levels," said J Karthik, a resident of Manikonda.
Usually, during the last week of May, the demand for tankers across the city would be 9,000 to 10,000, but due to early onset of the monsoon, it has gone down to around 7,000 daily, showing a significant 30% decrease.
"Thanks to the early onset of the monsoon, our residents have got some respite from the water scarcity as dependence has dropped by at least 50%. During peak summer, residents within our gated premises required weekly deliveries of four to five water tankers, each carrying 10KL.
This week, however, the requirement has diminished to just one tanker," said Ravi Shankar, president of the Federation of Gated Communities, Cyberabad.
BOX: HMWSSB has alerted the public about fraudulent WhatsApp messages in circulation. These messages, sent from the mobile number 84271 56645, are falsely notifying residents about water supply disconnection, citing unpaid bills from the previous month. The board has cautioned citizens to disregard these unauthorised communications.
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