Nizam-era flood warning device to be reinstalled at Gandipet

Ranga Reddy: The Municipal Administration and Urban Development department along with Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has decided to repair and reinstall the Nizams era flood warning instrument at Osman Sagar.

The Water Board has been preserving the instrument for the last several decades which was manufactured by Geo Kent in London.

The flood warning instrument is an interesting one as the gramophone in the instrument starts playing music once the water level in the reservoir reaches the full tank level.

Each line on the gramophone record represents the actual water level of the reservoir. The Nizams, who ruled Hyderabad, installed it in 1920 after the construction of Osman Sagar.

It is learnt that a water man would daily visit the reservoir to note down the water levels spending the entire day just to note down one reading. Since this process was time consuming, the Nizam held discussions with engineering officials and made the device installed to measure the water levels.

The audible water level indicator was used to record the water level and also used to give flood warning signals through a gramophone which was audible to the officials at head office at Goshamahal.

Earlier, many attempts were made to restore the device to its working condition. However, the efforts went futile. In 2009, the device was kept in the water museum at Khairatabad. Later, as the museum was shut down, the instrument was shifted back to Osman Sagar once again.