Hyderabad’s Osman Sagar, Himayat Sagar face flood, encroachment risk

HYDERABAD: The twin reservoirs of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, Hyderabad’s key drinking water sources, face growing risks due to encroachments, lack of desilting and poor coordination between departments. Experts warn the situation could trigger floods and water shortages.

Heavy inflows in recent weeks exposed mismanagement as the reservoirs filled to capacity. Engineers built them over a century ago on gravity-based designs, and they have never desilted them. Even moderate inflows push them to full levels, forcing emergency flood releases. Since the onset of the monsoon, the authorities released 5.90 TMC ft of the 6.60 TMC ft of inflows received into the Esa river from Himayat Sagar.

Encroachments and poor upkeep shrink reservoir catchment areas

Encroachments have claimed 590 acres of catchment land — 390 near Himayat Sagar and 200 near Osman Sagar. With no boundaries or reclamation, real estate growth has further eaten into buffer zones and tank-level lands.

Experts caution that extreme rain events such as cloudbursts could overwhelm the bunds. Coordination between the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which manages the reservoirs, and the Irrigation Department, which controls inflows, aggravate the problem. Officials often lack timely inflow data, leading to sudden gate operations that flood downstream areas.

Allegations of corruption have surfaced, with irrigation officials accused of issuing no-objection certificates for plots within submerging zones. Some illegal constructions near Himayat Sagar were demolished recently.

Experts say the government must urgently enforce full tank level boundaries and desilt the reservoirs to safeguard Hyderabad’s drinking water and flood safety.