A fleet of civic and private water tankers lined up to tap water from a designated GVMC filling point as acute water scarcity grips Visakhapatnam from the past few weeks.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU
A severe water crisis has gripped Visakhapatnam, pushing apartment residents into deep distress as taps run dry and private water tankers fleece desperate households amid soaring water demand.High-rise and multi-storied residential complexes across neighbourhoods are bearing the brunt of the shortfall. As municipal supplies dwindle, residents depend heavily on private water tankers. However, procuring them has become financially crippling. A 20-kiloliter (KL) water tanker is now being sold at exorbitant rates ranging between ₹5,000 and ₹7,000. To make matters worse, designated municipal and private water filling stations face acute depletion, leaving tankers struggling to source supply.The crisis has also triggered a bitter administrative confrontation between private water suppliers and enforcement agencies. Tanker operators claim that traffic police are booking cases and intercepting vehicles plying across the city, while revenue authorities are seizing tankers and water filling stations, citing groundwater level depletion as the reason. Defending their operations, suppliers argue that water is an essential emergency commodity, questioning how authorities can penalise them when citizens are grappling with acute survival needs.Different perspectiveLaw enforcement authorities present a different perspective, stating that heavy water tankers operating on city thoroughfares violate traffic safety regulations, particularly concerning uncovered tyres and reckless movement. Police pointed to a fatal accident on Thursday at Naidu Thota, where a woman lost her life after coming under the wheels of a water tanker, citing it as a stark example of the risks involved.Weighing in on the escalating crisis, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Superintending Engineer (Water Supply) G.V. Pallam Raju told The Hindu that the civic body is taking all possible measures to regulate private operators and prevent price escalation.“The civic body is taking all possible measures to check the private tankers. The commissioner is very strict on this implementation. The public can approach them for any issues,” Mr. Raju said.As residents ration every drop and wait anxiously for municipal supplies, urban planners warn that unless alternative distribution channels are urgently stabilised, the city’s infrastructure will completely break down in managing basic public utilities. Published - September 03, 2026 09:12 pm IST
