Hyderabad water crisis deepens: Families spending 'Rs 2,500 a week' just on water

Water crisis

The demand for private water tankers in Hyderabad has gone up sharply as the city is facing an intense water crisis this summer. This is happening despite the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) already running 10,000 tankers across the city.

Private tanker operators say they are now delivering at least five to six tankers daily, often in multiple shifts. Most of the requests are coming from the western and central parts of the city, such as Kondapur, Madhapur, and Gachibowli, TOI reported.

“We get 10 to 12 calls every day from various residential areas. Of these, four to five are from regular customers, but the rest are new. We have been supplying around 80,000 to 90,000 litres of water daily to apartment societies in the last two weeks,” Vamshi K of Manikanta Water Suppliers in Gachibowli told TOI.

Private water is not cheap either. A 25,000-litre tanker costs around Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000, while a smaller 10,000-litre tanker costs between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000.

Ravi Shanker, a resident of a gated community in Kondapur, said his colony is now depending heavily on private tankers. "Last year, we hardly booked any tankers. But this year supply from the board has been very erratic. We are getting water only for three to four hours instead of the usual seven to eight hours a day. Moreover, borewells in our locality have dried up despite digging up to 1,200 metres. Earlier, even a 600-metre-deep borewell would draw water from the ground," he said.

Shanker estimated that each family is spending Rs 2,500 a week just to buy water. He fears this could rise to Rs 3,000 during the peak summer months of May and June.

According to the HMWS&SB, water tanker requests in the city have already crossed 8 lakh in the first four months of 2025. That’s a 30 per cent increase compared to last year.