Importance of lakes not realised enough: Flood control chief

By Shagun Kapil,

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The recent Hyderabad floods showed that along with climate change, the city is also bearing the brunt of poor planning and encroachment of its lakes. Near 50 per cent of Hyderabad lakes are full; their capacity has decreased due to encroachment, siltation and dumping of solid waste.

We should have considered expanding these lakes. Water bodies are an essential source of flood moderation and act as retention or detention basin. The importance of these water bodies is not being realised.

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Short-term measures should be deployed to clean clogged drains and encroachments and avoid indiscriminate development on water bodies. Plastic is one of the major sources of pollution in drains.

We need engineering solutions for the long term. We need to review design criteria of urban water drains. We need to statistically update this design.

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From the point of view of water resources, dams were designed to moderate floods. But if you maintain reservoir levels high in June and July, you end up inviting trouble. There should be slow filling of reservoir during June, July and August, and by September-end, one can have aggressive filling. Many a time these rule curves are not followed.