What is the status of Musi and Hussainsagar lakes restoration in Hyderabad?

Question

what is the status of Musi and Hussainsagar lakes restoration in Hyderabad, which were to take off long time ago. When would it be completed.... in 2020?

Answer 1

The lake restoration- in spite of its high visibility- has stalled significantly. Your guess -2020- is as good as anybody.  It is all in the hands of the politicians and the bureaucrats.

For those not familiar with the question, here is some background information.

The historic Hussainsagar lake in the heart of Hyderabad city, Andhra Pradesh, is now a stinking stretch of polluted water separating it from its twin city, Secunderabad. The lake, which once received unpolluted water from the upper reaches of the river Musi, now receives domestic sewage and myriad chemicals from 300-odd industries. Four industrial estates located in its basin — Sanathnagar, Balanagar, Kukatpally and Jeedimetla — drain untreated and partially treated wastes into the lake. This, along with domestic sewage received from Picket, Kukatpally, Bolakpur and Banjara Hills nullahs (drains), accounts for a daily flow of 28,190 *** per day of waste into Hussainsagar. Presently, the lake is saturated with phenols, benzenes, cyanides and toxic metals. Hussainsagar was a drinking water source from 1884 to 1930.

Groundwater pollution along the Hussainsagar watershed poses serious health hazards. Nitrate concentration in the groundwater around the lake is reportedly high, ranging from 0-400 ppm (parts per million), several-fold higher than the permissible World Health Organization (who) standard of 10 ppm. A study in 1993 revealed high concentration of toxic heavy metals in groundwater samples along the radius of 0-800 metres around the lake. The concentrations of lead were in the range of 1-25 microgram/litre (µg/l), and cadmium concentrations ranged from 1-27 µg/l. These are significantly higher than the permissible levels of 10 µg/l of lead and 5 µg/l of cadmium recommended by agencies such as the Indian Council of Medical Research and the who.

Hyderabad meet vowed to restore all its urban waterbodies by 2009.