Telangana’s El Niño crisis has moved from farms to the city and its strategic institutions. Hyderabad’s water board will cut supplies to IIT Hyderabad, BHEL, the Ordnance Factory and Bharat Dynamics by 20–50%. The city faces a 150-million-gallon daily shortfall, and villages in Sangareddy may lose piped water from December. Ministers are urging farmers to replace paddy and cotton with pulses and oilseeds.
Until this week, the cost of Telangana’s failed monsoon fell mainly on farmers, who were told on Sunday not to expect canal water for rabi paddy. On Monday, 12 October, it reached one of India’s leading technical institutes and some of its most sensitive industrial plants.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) has decided to cut water supply to IIT Hyderabad, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the Ordnance Factory and Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) by 20 to 50 per cent, Telangana Today reported on Monday evening. All four draw on the Singur reservoir on the Manjeera river. The board has asked them to arrange other sources until June, when fresh inflows are expected.
A reservoir near empty
Singur held 3.70 thousand million cubic feet (TMCft) on Monday, against a full capacity of 29.91 TMCft, or about 12 per cent. Officials expect it to run dry within a month. Irrigation officials released 0.150 TMCft into the downstream Manjeera reservoir for immediate drinking-water needs; Manjeera now holds 0.200 TMCft.
Industrial users have already been squeezed. Deliveries to chemical companies in Sangareddy district have been stopped, and supplies to beverage plants are being restricted. One company still received 5,000 litres on Monday.
IIT Hyderabad, at Kandi near Sangareddy, runs laboratories, research facilities and a residential campus, all of which need water for cooling, processes and daily life. BDL makes missiles and BHEL heavy power equipment. A cut of up to half their municipal supply will force reliance on tankers, groundwater or recycling, at a time when groundwater is itself failing. NSH has not seen any statement from the four institutions on how they will cope.
The city’s arithmetic
The cuts come as Hyderabad confronts a structural gap. After the reorganisation of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, HMWSSB serves about 2,053 sq km and some 1.3 crore people through 14,59,608 connections. It supplies about 585 million gallons a day (MGD), against a projected demand of 735 MGD, a shortfall of about 150 MGD, Telangana Today reported. (The article’s own source-wise table sums to 584 MGD.)
Most of the city’s water travels a long way. The Krishna, through Akkampally, supplies 270 MGD and the Godavari, through Yellampalli, 162 MGD. The local reservoirs are small by comparison: Singur 71 MGD, Manjeera 44, Osman Sagar 23 and Himayat Sagar 14. These local sources are the most exposed to a poor monsoon. Groundwater, which households and apartment blocks use to fill the gap, is collapsing. Borewells in the IT corridor that once yielded water at about 300 feet are dry at 800 to 1,000 feet, pushing residents towards private tankers.
Villages next
Outside the city the picture is starker. Singur received barely 3 TMCft during the south-west monsoon. Mission Bhagiratha, Telangana’s piped drinking-water programme, has told the government it will be unable to supply 852 villages and eight municipalities in Sangareddy district from December. It has sought ₹31.23 crore for alternatives until next June. The itemised plan includes: – borewells in 302 habitations and ₹1 crore to hire private borewells; – ₹5.70 crore for tankers, mostly in Narayankhed; – ₹7.60 crore for 145 km of new and alternative pipelines; – ₹12.22 crore for 463 pump sets.
Supply across the district will move to alternate days after Dasara.
From paddy to pulses
On the farm side, the government has gone beyond telling farmers what not to grow. At a Rythu Nestham video conference on Monday, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao advised farmers to avoid water-intensive paddy and cotton in the rabi season. Agricultural scientists named alternatives: green gram, black gram, chickpea, groundnut, sunflower, sesame and safflower. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka warned that El Niño conditions could persist until 2027. He told departments to put drinking water first and to secure water and fodder for livestock. Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju said all 33 districts were below normal rainfall, with a statewide deficit of about 20 per cent. That is higher than the 17 per cent figure reported earlier this month; the difference may reflect different reference periods. State and district war rooms will be set up.
The human cost is already visible. Telangana Today reported a return of distress migration from Gadwal and Narayankhed, with small farmers leaving for Raichur, Mumbai and Kadapa. A local estimate that nearly 60 per cent of residents have left 160 thandas (tribal hamlets) in Narayankhed has not been officially confirmed.
Politics and relief
An informal Cabinet meeting on El Niño, planned for Monday, was postponed because ministers were travelling. Opposition BRS leaders have attacked the government’s preparedness and claim farm power supply is down to six or seven erratic hours a day. NSH has not been able to verify that figure.
Relief may come partly from the sky. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday that the north-east monsoon is likely to set in over the southern peninsula within two to three days. It forecast heavy rain on 15–18 October in coastal Andhra Pradesh and on 15–16 October in Rayalaseema. The forecast did not single out Telangana, which receives a modest share of its annual rain from the north-east monsoon. Nationally, the south-west monsoon ended 12.6 per cent below normal.
Why water for science matters
Water rationing at a research campus is not only a logistics problem. Laboratories depend on reliable water for chillers, purification systems, clean rooms and animal facilities. Interruptions can compromise experiments that run for months. Defence manufacturers have quality and safety processes that depend on it too. The episode is a reminder that Hyderabad’s growth as a science, pharma and defence hub depends on water security that a single weak monsoon can undo. Recycling, rainwater harvesting and treated-wastewater reuse on large campuses are no longer optional.
What to watch
Will the cuts be formally notified, and will the institutions say how they will adapt? Will the rescheduled Cabinet meeting turn advice into orders and crop-switching support, such as seed for pulses and oilseeds? And will the north-east monsoon bring meaningful rain to Telangana’s reservoirs, or only to coastal Andhra Pradesh?
–Rashmi Kumari
Key facts
- Supply cuts (HMWSSB, Telangana Today, 12 Oct, 20:22 IST): 20–50% for IIT Hyderabad, BHEL, the Ordnance Factory and BDL until June. Chemical units cut off; beverage units restricted.
- Singur: 3.70 of 29.91 TMCft; expected to run dry within a month. Manjeera at 0.200 TMCft.
- Hyderabad: about 585 MGD supplied against 735 MGD demand (shortfall about 150 MGD); 1.3 crore people; 2,053 sq km; 14,59,608 connections. Borewells dry at 800–1,000 ft.
- Sangareddy: 852 villages and 8 municipalities at risk from December; ₹31.23 crore sought; alternate-day supply after Dasara.
- Crop advisory (12 Oct): avoid rabi paddy and cotton; switch to pulses and oilseeds. Officials say El Niño may last until 2027; deficit about 20% (official).
Monsoon: south-west monsoon ended 12.6% below normal nationally; north-east monsoon onset expected within 2–3 days (IMD).
