Geography of Hyderabad

Hyderabad is located in central Telangana and is spread over an area of 2,500 km². The city lies in the Deccan Plateau and rises to an average height of 536 m above the sea level. The city lies at 17.366° N latitude and 78.476° E longitude.

Hyderabad is blessed with a unique landscape – spectacular rock formations which are about 2,500 million years old; among the oldest and hardest rocks in the world. Rocky and hilly regions around the city are under obliteration for urbanization. Granite ridges and hillocks weathered into picturesque balancing forms are a part of the Deccan Shield area. Grey and Pink Granites are among the world's oldest. Crops are commonly grown in the surrounding paddy fields. The city's soil type is mainly red sandy with areas of black cotton soil. Hyderabad falls in the seismic zone-II^[1] and is seismically least exposed to earthquakes.

The highest point in the city is Banjara Hills. The contour level falls gradually from west to east creating almost a trough near the Musi River which runs through the city. This natural feature has facilitated water supply by gravity. Elevation within the city varies between 672 m in Banjara Hills and 456 m in Old City. Nearby Southern Border satellite towns like Shadnagar have an average elevation of about 650 m uniformly.

The original city of Hyderabad was founded on the banks of river Musi and has grown over centuries on the both banks of the river. Now known as the historic "Old City", home to the Charminar and Mecca Masjid, it lies on the southern bank of the river. The city center saw a shift to the north of the river, with the construction of many government buildings and landmarks. Hyderabad and Secunderabad are called as 'Twin cities' as they are closely linked with each other. A man made lake, known as the Hussain Sagar Lake, separates the two cities. The rapid growth of the city, along with the growth of Secunderabad and neighboring municipalities has resulted in a large and populous metropolitan area.

The Musi river originates from Anantagiri Hills (located 70 km south west of Hyderabad) and joins Krishna River near Wazirabad in Nalgonda district. There are two dams built on it – Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. Both these reservoirs constitute the major drinking water sources for Hyderabad city. These dams also prevented the city from flooding that encountered till the early decades of 20th century. Musi River was called Muchukunda River in pre-historic days. A few bridges cross the river; the oldest, called "Purana Pul" (literally meaning old bridge) was built during the 16th century by the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda.

Today, due to indiscriminate urbanization and lack of planning, the river has become a receptacle for all the untreated domestic and industrial waste waters coming out of Hyderabad and has therefore become polluted. Numerous efforts to clean it have failed. The river water downstream to city is highly polluted.