Hyderabad: Flow of rain water into the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs is gradually increasing in view of heavy rainfall in the city. Two gates of both the reservoirs were lifted on Sunday by two feet each, and another one foot has been added to the Osman Sagar’s gates on Wednesday to release the water downstream as flood level rises.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) informed that currently, there is an inflow of 300 cusecs to Osman Sagar. 312 cusecs of water is going into Musi river through two gates from Osman Sagar. The full water level of Osman Sagar is 1790 feet, and the current water level has reached 1786.10 feet.
On the other hand, an inflow of 150 cusecs is coming to Himayat Sagar. 170 cusecs of water is flowing into the Musi in Hyderabad river from Himayat Sagar through one gate. The full water level of Himayat Sagar is 1763.50 feet and the current water level has reached 1760.45 feet.
Despite weather forecasts predicting that the skies will clear up soon in Hyderabad, the current water inflow into the reservoirs is very high, which might lead to all the gates being opened. The gates were previously fully opened in July last year.
A statement from the Telangana government on Tuesday also said all the reservoirs in the Godavari basin are almost full to the brim due to the heavy rains.
A press note from the Telangana said that due to heavy rains over the past week, water levels in the Sri Ram Sagar project touched 74.83 trillion cubic meters (TMC) out of its full capacity of 90.31 TMC at 12.00 noon on Tuesday. The inflow into the project was 81,730 cusecs and officials released 86,118 cusecs of water by opening nine gates.
The history of the two lakes
Both Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar were built to stop excess water from overflowing into the Musi River, after the 1908 devastating Musi river floods in Hyderabad which killed thousands of people. The 1908 floods took place during the time of Mahboob Ali Pasha, the Sixth Nizam of Hyderabad. It led to him commissioning the services of M. Visweswaraya, the legendary Indian engineer, who suggested that two dams be built keep the Musi River’s water outside the city.
While Mahbub Ali Pasha died in 1911, his son and the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, sought to develop Hyderabad and make it flood-proof. He got both the lakes constructed under the aegis of the City Improvement Board, which was set-up in 1912. Both lakes were then developed over the next two decades.
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