109 points of stagnation and growing

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad’s storm water (SW) drain system dates back to the Nizam’s period.The situation has not changed for six decades.The drain network laid by engineers then catered to a city of about five lakh. It now serves a city of over 8 million.The state government or the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have made no serious efforts to remodel, widen or construct new nalas since the formation of the state. For years, GHMC officials fought to explain that they do their best when the rains come, but now they thrown their hands up and say people just have to be prepared for the rains.Says one official, “Our existing storm water drains were designed to withstand 12 mm to 20 mm of rain as per the manual of the Ministry of Urban Development.“But there have been days on which the city received 75 mm of rain and the existing the network can’t take it.That’s why you see flooding on the roads.’’ Apart from the outdated SW drain network, unplanned urban growth has aggravated the conditions.Drains choked by garbage in the absence of a proper solid waste disposal system contributes to inundation of roads.Over the years, this problem has worsened manifold because of unplanned expansion of the city.Efforts to ease this problem have not been coordinated in the absence of a fully integrated city development plan.GHMC officials say they have taken several initiatives in the last two years to clear up critical stagnation points at about 109 places.The situation has improved by about 60 percent at these points and the problem has been minimised to some extent.Explaining the reason for the waterlogging problem in Hyderabad, Veda Kumar M, member of the Forum for A Better Hyderabad, says the city’s SW drain network has ceased to be an exclusive storm water drainage system.“There is no outlet for the water, hence it takes a longer time to percolate,” he says, adding that during the the Nizam’s period there used to be separate lines for storm water and sewage.With the city expanding, SW lines were converted into sewage lines without building additional lines.With the rise of apartment complexes, drain lines are overloaded.Roads have to be laid in accordance with the regulation of Indian Road Congress, he says.As per these regulations, roads has to be slightly elevated in the centre and sloping towards the edges to allow rain water to flow into the gutter. Storm water drains have to be built alongside to drin the rain water.In many places, roads do not meet these standards, Veda Kumar said.Adding to the problems, nala lands have been encroached and garbage dumped into water bodies.Moreover, roads are being asphalted, leaving no footpaths. Householders leave no space for water to percolate. “What else can be the result but waterlogging,” asks Veda Kumar.