Hyderabad generates less waste, consumes more water

HYDERABAD: The city has been generating 1,500 metric tonne (MT) less garbage per day (normal 6,000 MT ) during the ongoing lockdown. However, water consumption has gone up a bit.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials said there was zero solid waste generation from commercial establishments, indicating the lockdown was effective to a great extent.

“We are able to lift the entire garbage and move it to Jawaharnagar as the attendance of sanitation workers is good.The entire solid waste is generated from residential areas as there is no commercial activity,” GHMC additional commissioner Rahul Raj told TOI. Around 20,000 sanitation workers were working to keep the city clean.
“Cleaning up the road is hassle-free. There is not much garbage on the streets as well as there is no movement of people. We have around 2,500 entomology workers, who usually do fogging and anti-larval activity. They are now involved in disinfecting the city. We are using sodium hypochlorite to disinfect the city,” he added.
Principal secretary, municipal administration and urban dev elopment department, Arvind Kumar said, “We have been able to ensure all the essential services, more specifically sanitation garbage lifting solid waste management and drinking water and sewerage, are maintained uninterrupted with minimum inconvenience. For this, municipal workers in Hyderabad are being brought from their home (from a cluster point) by buses so that their absence could be minimised.”
“There might be a few hiccups and occasional delays in maintaining daily sanitation and garbage lifting, but we are trying our best to minimise such locations and have been able to ensure a smooth normal operation till now. For this purpose, zonal commissioners have been specifically empowered to engage extra vehicles, if needed,” he added.
However, water consumption by citizens hasn’t dropped in the city. HMWS&SB director (technical) VL Praveen Kumar said, “Despite no commercial activity, there is an increase in domestic use. We are supplying 410 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to the city.” HMWS&SB chief manager Prasanna Kumar said, “The liquid waste is the same. There is no change.”