As city faces water crisis, University of Hyderabad dries up

The University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been facing a severe water crisis for more than two weeks, after water in the Manjeera and Singur reservoirs dried up.

This has forced 1,500 students and staff to order water tanks and buy water at high rates from outside the campus.

According to a report in the Times of India, there are 16 hostels in the university, of which hostels A, B, C, D, NRS, NRS Annex, H and ladies hostel in the main campus are among the worst hit. Research scholars majorly occupy these hostels. Boys are getting water from outside the campus in bottles.

Even faculty members and staff that reside on campus are having a tough time.

"We are not getting the usual quota of water that we used to get earlier. Initially, during the morning hours, there was continuous supply of water. However, now there is acute shortage," P Thirumal, associate professor in the department of communication told TOI.

The water in Manjeera reservoir, the major source of drinking water for Hyderabad, dried up this year for the first time in 30 years, leaving the river bed desolate and dotted with puddles of muddy water.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) which normally draws 75 MGD from Singur and 45 MGD from Manjeera, has stopped doing so from December 1. 

The HMWS&SB has since requested the government to provide Rs 134.30 crore as financial assistance under 'contingency action plan' to take up drought relief works for 2015 -2016 and 2016-17.

The board has also started pumping Krishna water to four GHMC circles to tackle the situation.

Meanwhile, the UoH administration has been hiring water tankers but to no avail. The Students' Union also submitted a representation early this month. 

Two borewells have been dug for now, one near the research scholars' hostel and another near the ladies hostel and the students' union plans to hold a meeting with the administration soon to resolve the water crisis.