The southern Indian city of Hyderabad has seen unprecedented growth and is an emerging megacity. Some processes in its rapid urbanisation and development have had serious repercussions and are proving to be a threat to the city and its environs. The provision of basic amenities like water supply for its growing population has been particularly affected in the newly developing areas beyond the city’s municipal boundaries. Piped municipal water supply is often sporadic and inadequate, resulting in a widening demand-supply gap, particularly in the peri-urban areas of the city.
Informal water markets, particularly private tankers, play a crucial role in filling such gaps. However, most of these water trucks or tankers use groundwater as their major water source. They have a well-structured institutional nexus of illegal suppliers and operators. Moreover, tanker-supplied water has tradeoffs that tend to be ignored: energy costs associated with such an inefficient system of transporting bulk water; the health and social costs of the high number of road traffic accidents caused by these tankers; and the impact of their groundwater abstraction on other water users in peri-urban areas. Despite the critical nature of this issue, little is known or documented about this rapidly growing informal tanker market, particularly in peri-urban Hyderabad.
In this context, SaciWATERs has undertaken a two-year project: Understanding the Magnitude of the Tanker-Based Economy and its Implications on Water Resources: A Study of Private Water Tanker Market in Peri-Urban Hyderabad. The research project has been funded by Arghyam and the Bordeaux Urban Community.