Water is life and a basic need. With the looming climate crisis, water availability cannot be taken for granted. If the 84 villages under GO 111 are urbanised, the Musi river could be in danger of becoming a sewer line. As a result, Hyderabad city and its people might have to pay a hefty price, opined organisations like Telangana Human Rights Forum, WICCI (Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Water Resources Council, Fridays for Future and Citizens for Hyderabad.
Speaking at a recent press conference in the city, the representatives of these organisations criticised the State government’s decision to implement GO 69 which will not benefit the poor and marginal farmers in the Musi River catchment area as was being claimed by the State government. Instead, they stated that it was meant to benefit realtors and investors who are ready to pump in black money into the realty market. Terming it as a mere political decision aimed at short-term political gains, they demanded that GO 69 should be withdrawn. Implementing GO 69 would be suicidal for Hyderabad city, they
cautioned.
The speakers at the press conference felt that GO 69 was not sufficient enough to protect the Musi River water and termed the five measures proposed in the GO as futile exercises. They reminded that sewage treatment plants (STPs) alone cannot convert sewage water into drinking water. They pointed out the partially treated water will be released again into the river which will further pollute the river. Due to extensive urbanisation upon revoking GO 111, water pollution will increase drastically.
Further, the measures proposed under GO 69 were inefficient and it can ascertained from the fact that before GO 69 was issued, the twin reservoirs of Osman Sagar and Himayath Sagar supplied about 51,607 MLD of drinking water for 102 days i.e. an average of 506 MLD. This is more than the total drinking water supplied to eight erstwhile districts of Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Khammam, Nalgonda, Adilabad, Medak and Mahbubnagar everyday. If all the encroachments are removed from the two reservoirs and the reservoirs are restored their original capacity, they can store 10 TMC rather than the current storage capaciy of 3.9 TMC. All this water can be supplied to the city through
gravity, without requiring any electricity to pump water from Krishna and Godavari Rivers which will otherwise cost Rs 2.7 crore per day.
The main objective of establishing Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar twin reservoirs is flood prevention. These two dams were built after the devastating 1908 Musi floods. In 2020 and 2021 too, floods occurred in Hyderabad due to extreme weather conditions. So there is a possibility of Musi River causing frequent flooding. If the Musi River catchment area is urbanised, the storm water flow will increase and the reservoirs will be brimming to their full capacity. As a result, the authorities will be eventually forced to open the reservoirs to release water down stream. Further, with increasing population and increased sewage generation, Musi River could become a sewer canal. Whenever there are floods, the city could get submerged in sewage water. Rivers are recognised internationally as a legal entity with all the rights on par with an individual and a corporation. Converting the Musi River into a sewer drain is a violation of the Right to Freedom to flow without polluted water.
Urbanisation in the Musi River catchment area, will have increase the adverse impact of the flood water. The abandoned reservoirs will always have water full to their capacity and hence, fresh inflows should be released down stream immediately. Thus, the city dwellers are under constant threat of floods due to frequent extreme weather conditions. With urbanisation in the Musi catchment area, the population of Hyderabad city will double by 2050 and the water requirement will also increase. Accordingly, sewage water discharge also double. As the Musi River is the lone outlet to discharge sewage water, inflows
during floods will reduce its efficiency and even a small rain could cause floods in the city. Under these conditions, implementation of GO 69 is nothing short of suicidal. Therefore, GO 69 should be withdrawn immediately and GO 111 should be strengthened to enforce it effectively, experts urged.
Increasing population will increase urbanisation in the catchment area of 1.32 lakh acres of the Musi River. This increases sewage water flow and subsequently, cause pollution. The decision to implement GO 69 would turn the Musi river into a sewage canal which would not be beneficial to people of Telangana especially twin cities, the Human Rights Forum (HRF) argued. This is nothing but neo-liberal arrogance towards nature and the decision to facilitate urbanisation of the Musi River catchment area would be detrimental to the interests of the poor and the marginal farmers in the area. The HRF feared that thousands of acres of these lands will be either forcibly acquired by the State government from the farmers for less than market value or the realtors will lure them to sell these agricultural lands – both meant to con the farmers. Hence, the HRF demanded the State government to withdraw GO 69 and continue implementation of GO 111. The Forum reminded that Telangana was not immune to natural calamities caused by human destruction and money was not a substitute to unpolluted air, water and food.
Revoking GO 111 to facilitate urban development in the watershed areas of Musa and Isa which are tributaries of Musi River, would only increase inflow of sewage water. Due to increase in construction activities, groundwater recharge will not be possible. This would also reduce water harvesting capacity of soil which in turn increases flood flow that would again have an adverse impact on availability, quality and quantity of groundwater. Thus, urbanisation will increase sewage water generation and reduce water quality drastically.
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