Hyderabad will not run dry — that is the floor Chief Minister Revanth Anumula set on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, when he chaired a high-level review at the MCRHRDA Bodhi Pavilion and ordered officials to ensure drinking-water supply to the capital never falters under any circumstances. The Chief Minister's Office of Telangana announced a sweeping set of directives covering reservoir monitoring, sewage treatment plant (STP) operations, treated-water reuse, and a hard implementation deadline of November 1.

El Niño threat drives the urgency

The backdrop is stark. El Niño-induced rainfall deficits have stretched water stress across peninsular India, and Hyderabad — a city whose population and data-centre footprint are growing at pace — cannot afford improvisation. CM Revanth directed officials to monitor reservoir storage levels continuously and to keep all STPs within the CURE (Comprehensive Urban Rejuvenation and Environment) zone running at 100 per cent capacity, explicitly citing future demand scenarios shaped by erratic monsoons.

India's urban-water playbook has been shifting steadily toward circular management: treat the wastewater, reuse it for non-potable purposes, protect the freshwater reserves. Telangana's review on Wednesday crystallises that shift into concrete orders with a named deadline.

Treated water from parks to data centres

The directives map treated water onto every non-drinking use the government can mandate. The Secretariat, the CMO, the Outer Ring Road corridor, Metro Rail offices, and other government buildings must use treated water for landscaping and non-potable needs. Public parks and road-cleaning operations must also draw only from treated supply — no fresh water for a broom or a sprinkler.

More ambitiously, data centres are now on the list of mandatory treated-water consumers, a significant signal to the technology infrastructure sector expanding rapidly around Hyderabad. The CM also ordered strict enforcement of the existing rule requiring treated water in building construction, and instructed officials to actively encourage private STPs.

REDCO (Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Odisha — here likely referring to Telangana's renewable energy arm) senior officials were directed to explore using solar power to run STPs, reducing both the operating cost and the carbon footprint of wastewater treatment.

Command-and-control infrastructure by November 1

The operational architecture CM Revanth ordered is unusually granular. Every STP will have a dedicated officer. All plants will be linked to a command-and-control centre for round-the-clock monitoring. HYDRA — the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency — will independently oversee plant performance. Tankers distributing treated water must be fitted with a tracking system, and a dedicated toll-free number will be set up for public queries on treated-water supply.

Officials from Jalmandali (the metropolitan water utility) told the review that treated water is currently being distributed from 26 STPs via Green Water Tankers, with consumers charged only a transport fee — the water itself is free.

Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju and senior officials from all relevant departments attended the review. All orders are to be operationalised by November 1, 2026.

A water-quality guarantee with no exceptions

Cutting through the administrative detail was one unambiguous instruction: zero compromise on water quality. CM Revanth told officials to adopt the highest technical standards in water treatment and warned explicitly against any dilution of quality norms — whether in potable supply or treated reuse. The message was direct: accountability attaches to every plant, and oversight attaches to every tanker.

With a November 1 enforcement date now on the calendar, Hyderabad's water managers have days, not months, to wire up the tracking systems, assign the plant officers, and get the toll-free line live. The CM has made clear he is watching the reservoir gauges — and the results.