Mallampet in the suburbs of Hyderabad has been experiencing severe water crisis as a result of urbanization and rapid real estate growth in and around the village. As the population increased, the dependence on the existing water resources also doubled, owing to severe water scarcity in the village. Erratic rainfall also added to the problem

A dominant characteristic of a peri-urban site is its transition out of an agrarian economy as a result of industrialization and urbanisation. This usually manifests itself in the form of agricultural land either left barren or sold for developmental activities and farmers and agricultural labourers looking for an alternative source of livelihood. One of our

Informal water market plays a crucial role in meeting the drinking and domestic water security of the peri urban community. Increasing reliance on private informal water vendors in all the study villages shows their significance. However informal players like private RO companies, households or individual farmers selling water, does not operate in isolation, but in

The serious implications of privatization of natural resources like water, which is often brought under the overarching umbrella of market reforms often evades us. There is a qualitative difference in the state withdrawing from the social sector as opposed to the economic sector, and in the increased privatization of private commodities as opposed that of

In the first hour of our field work in Malkaram, one thing became very evident. This village is much poorer than our other study villages- Mallampet, Kokapet and Adibatla. There was no development in or around the area. This was also probably the reason why there was no informal water selling activity in this village.

Every study village of the project “Ensuring Water Security in Metropolitan Hyderabad” has a different story and situation — bringing to light the various aspects of the informal water market. However, the answer to the most pertinent question still remains partially answered –‘Are informal water tankers good or bad?’ In order to be able to

Kokapet, one of the study villages for the project “Ensuring Water Security in Metropolitan Hyderabad” (http://saciwaters.org/wsphyd/), was the first village that I visited for field work. Even though we refer to them as ‘villages’, there was very less that I found village-like here. It’s a truly peri-urban site, with characteristics of a space transitioning from

In Hyderabad, water tankers are the dominant source of our daily water supply. Research for the project ‘Ensuring Water Security in Hyderabad Municipal Area’ gave us some insights into the quality of water carried by these tankers. When the water is pumped from bore wells in villages, it is not always transferred to tankers immediately.

Mallampet is a village of Quthbullapur Mandal. It is located about 5–6 km from the municipal boundaries of Hyderabad city. Like many other villages, Mallampet too has witnessed the disappearance of its lakes, but not all of the reasons for this are natural. A close study of the political nexus has revealed an interesting case

An impromptu weekend plan landed me in Wonderla Amusement Park in Hyderabad. My fear of heights made me go only on those rides that seemed slower and lower. These happened to be the water rides, as they were my safest bet. Even if all the safety belts and harnesses of the ride failed, I would