The survey will accurately determine the full reservoir levels of each body of water and, more importantly, will help planning officers determine whether the terrain is a body of water or just standing water. | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
The bathymetric survey, which measures the depth and underwater terrain of water bodies, will be part of the Master Plan exercise by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. It will be helpful to accurately identify and record the lakes and surplus channels, officials say.
A bathymetric survey uses echo-sonar (sonar) instruments to record its depth. Part of the exercise will be the creation of a base map for the HMDA region, for which a “Request for Proposal” will be published soon.
HMDA officials say the goal is twofold. First, the survey will accurately determine the full reservoir levels of each body of water by measuring depth at multiple locations. Secondly, and most importantly, it will help planning officers determine whether the terrain is a body of water or just standing water.
Officials said on condition of anonymity that the previous land use plan recorded every occurrence of standing water as a water body, which led to many complications. Even after the said water body was de-registered, it continued to remain in the master plan, leading to disputes. A scientific approach through bathymetric surveying is expected to identify major water bodies with greater accuracy. According to them, however, the scope of the survey has yet to be decided.
HMDA will prepare a base map for its expanded jurisdiction of 11,500 km2, which includes areas of Future City Development Authority (762 km2) as well as Yadadri Temple Development Authority (98 km2). FCDA and YTDA will prepare their own master plan based on the base map provided by HMDA.
The Telangana Core Urban Region (TCUR), largely defined by the area in and around the Outer Ring Road, and the rest of HMDA comprise 10,450 square kilometers for which HMDA will prepare a master plan.
For 2,053 square kilometers of TCUR, HMDA plans to prepare a three-dimensional map using a digital elevation model and for the remaining area a two-dimensional map using only a digital surface model as part of a LiDAR survey, which may start between December 2025 and June 2026.
Unlike earlier when the base map was prepared using survey numbers, this time geographical coordinates will be used for the work, officials said. Although the survey numbers may be overlaid, they will not be the basis of the map.
Published – 16 Oct 2025 20:39 IST
