In the dark ahead of Dasara fete

HYDERABAD: With four-hour power cuts coming into effect in the Greater Hyderabad limits from Sunday, just three days ahead of Dasara, citizens are likely to be faced with yet another problem: shortage of drinking water.The disruption of power supply at water pumping stations and division levels has affected water supply not only under GHMC limits but also in villages en route.The water supply timings too have become erratic in the last few days.Out of the 340 MGD water supplied to the Greater Hyderabad consumers, 300 MGD is drawn from Krishna Phase-I and Phase-II (180 MGD), Singur (75 MGD) and Manjira (45 MGD) through pumping systems.Though the main water pumping stations of the Water Board are exempted from power cuts, power trips at feeders and other technical snags at sub-stations have made matters a bit difficult.In all, over 7.5 lakh houses in Hyderabad are likely to be affected by the shortage of drinking water supply.Official sources said though there was an understanding between the HMWS&SB and APTransco that major water pumping stations would be spared from power cuts, the worsening situation on the power supply front is casting a shadow on water supply.Disruption of power even for a few minutes at these pumping stations results in delay of an hour to start pumping again.Every time power goes off and comes back, officials have to restart motors one by one and not all of them at one go. Hence, the supply to residential areas gets delayed by more than two hours.Speaking to Express, Water Board officials said that due to power cuts within the divisions, water supply to most of the areas in the twin cities has been hit either in the form of supply timings or low pressure and less water supply.According to the officials, supply timings are being rescheduled to ensure that people get adequate water.But the revised timings have led to confusion among the people as no official announcement has been made.The Water Board officials said mobile water tankers were also being pressed into service to ensure that people do not have any problem during festival time.