As many as two lakh people of the town are severely hit with the scarcity of drinking water in the scorching summer. The two summer storage tanks of the town have failed to meet the demand for drinking water though officials state that they will resolve the issue soon. "The municipality supplies drinking water for only one hour once in three days. How can families store drinking water for three days," asked Ms A. Sitamahalakshmi, a resident of Gopalnagar. "We have to purchase water tins for which we have to pay Rs 35 Rs 40 for 20 litres and have to spend Rs 2,000 for drinking water per month," she rued. The CPI(M) town secretary, Mr G.V. Konda Reddy, alleged that the town outskirts were getting drinking water only once a week and the municipality was reluctant to supply water by tankers. "If people need water in an emergency, they have to pay Rs. 1,000 per tanker, which was Rs 700 earlier," he said. The Chief Minister, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, had laid the foundation stone on July 2, 2007, for the construction of seven overhead tanks at a cost of Rs 18.6 crore but lack of place had led to the building of only three in the town. Potable water connections were given to 44,640 houses, and 3,000 government and private offices by the municipality through 101 km water pipelines. Of the two lakh people, 1.87 lakh in the town were getting water once in three days, but 30,000 people of 60 slums of the town were getting water in tankers. "We are giving one tanker per day to 15-20 families who do not have water connections," said S. Ravindra Babu, municipal commissioner. "They were trying to supply 140 litres of water per house through 70 tanker trips but as there was a hike in demand, they were operating 10 extra trips," he said. "Works on seven overhead tanks with Rs 18.6 crores were started with filtration plants, balancing reservoir and filter beds works at Ramnagar, Bhagyanagar, Puli Venkata Reddy Colony, and Gandhi Nagar and these will be completed by April 2009," said the local MLA, Mr Balineni Srinivas Reddy.