Himayat Sagar in city is full to the brim

Hyderabad: There will be no water problem for the next one year, thanks to the copious rains in the catchment areas of major reservoirs, which cater to the drinking water requirements of 7.5 million residents of Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak districts.

The twin reservoirs of the city Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar, Singur and Manjira reservoirs from Medak and Nagarjuna Sagar in Nalgonda district have received huge inflows from the catchment areas of the respective reservoirs following continuous spell of rains.

The inflows into Himayath Sagar began on August 25 and into Osman Sagar on August 29. In less than six days, Himayath Sagar has recorded inflows which are adequate to supply drinking water for 133 days to the city while in the last four days Osman Sagar witnessed water inflows which could be enough for 30 days.

Surprisingly, Singur reservoir, which recorded rapid depletion in the water levels, also witnessed record amount of inflows on a single day (August 31). The water levels in the reservoir rose by 0.557 tmc which is enough to meet the drinking water requirements of the city residents for 43 days in a row.

Another reservoir Manjira also registered significant inflows, thanks to the continuous downpour. The reservoir had recorded a rise of 0.050 tmc of water since August 26. Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir recorded 2.879 tmc in the water levels on a single day on August 31.

Even as the inflows continue to rise in the five crucial reservoirs, the officials of the water board are planning to open the gates of Himayat Sagar as the reservoir is expected to breach its full tank level (FTL) any moment. As against the FTL of 1763 ft, the reservoir already reached 1752 ft on August 31. The inflow of 11656 cusecs is still expected into the reservoir.

Interestingly, the gates of Himayat Sagar were opened on 10 occasions in the past. In 1981, the gates were opened for the first time following huge inflows of flood water. They were again opened in 1982 and 1983.

The last time the gates of were opened was in 2010 when the reservoir recorded heavy inflows. Similarly, the gates of Osman Sagar reservoir were also opened on many occasions in the past.

The water from the reservoir was released in the year 1981 for the first time and it was released for the last time in 2010. However, the reservoir does not have any threat of breaching at present.