Water crisis looms large over Bangalore this summer too - Bangalore - DNA
Water crisis looms large over Bangalore this summer too
Published: Friday, Apr 2, 2010, 16:05 IST
Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA
The newly elected corporators, whose names will be known on Monday, will have a tough task on hand after they assume office. They will face the wrath ofpeople if they don’t take steps to avert the water crisis looming large in Bangalore. The problem will be more acute in the newly added areas of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
There is no solution on the horizon but the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has drawn up a contingency plan to mitigate the problem and ensure equitable distribution of water.
Detailing the plan for the summer, a senior BWSSB official stated that tankers would be used to supply water to the areas where the problem was critical. The assurance of water supply, however, comes with a rider:“only to critical areas”.
“We cannot supply tanker water to all the areas as the available quantity is limited,” he clarified.
Even this supply will depend on the tankers available with the BWSSB as the private players are yet to be involved. “After the code of conduct (till Monday) is relaxed, tenders will be called to supply water through tankers. Private players can participate in the bid,” he said, adding that junior engineers have been assigned to identify critical areas where borewells have dried up.
Besides, the BWSSB official said that the engineers have been asked to attend to consumers’ complaints from 6am to 8am during summer. “They will be stationed at the service stations during the morning to attend to the problems of consumers,” the official said.
BWSSB minister Katta Subramanya Naidu has also instructed that tankers be kept ready to supply water to the affected areas as and when required. The minister also instructed the board officials to inspect and repair the pipes connected to faulty borewells.
Bangalore faces a shortage of 410 mld (milling litres daily). The demand is 1,219 mld and the city is getting a supply of only 870 mld of water.
Although in the midst of a severe water crisis, 50.9 per cent of the City’s drinking water is allowed to go waste, and it is second only to Delhi which tops in the country among mega cities in wasting of water. The national capital wastes 52.4 per cent supplied to it.Niranjan Kaggere
Posted On Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 05:50:38 AM
With summer here, the clamour for water is growing louder and MLAs want the government to start drilling borewells quickly. Environmentalists, however, say that's not the best solution to the city's water problem.
N L Narendra Babu, MLA from Mahalakshmi Layout, blames the government for the crisis. "I have been getting complaints since January. But instead of providing facilities for the existing city, the government is busy creating more and more layouts." B N Vijaykumar, MLA from Jayanagar constituency, said, “Within core Bangalore, there is no need for borewells as we meet the demand through tap and pipeline connections. However, borewells are inevitable on the outskirts." Stop. Wake up Borewells, however, are only a quick-fix solution, says environmentalist Sheshadri Ramaswamy of Hasiru Usiru. “Already, the underground level is receding beyond imagination. The injudicious use of underground water all these days has brought us to this situation. We need to wake up at least now and understand the reality. If you go on extracting underground water by digging more borewells, it will lead to a worse scenario," he said. That is what's happening. The more borewells the government plans, the deeper it needs to dig. Already, the water table in Basavanagudi and Jayanagar areas has the least depth — between 400 ft and 600 ft. The depth in most other areas is not encouraging either. “Out of every 10 borewells dug, two or three will be duds," says C V Raman Nagar MLA S Raghu. "With time, the remaining also turn dry," he said. Muniraju, MLA from Dasarahalli constituency, agrees. "We have more than 300 borewells but of them, around 110-120 measuring 800-900 ft are running dry already". Wasted Every time a borewell dries up, nearly Rs 2.5 lakh goes down the drain. “The complete cost of a borewell is close to Rs 2.5 lakh. A total of Rs 60,000 to Rs 75,000 is spent on just drilling and Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 is spent on casing pipes and the motor and the rest is spent on getting power connection or to lay an extra power cable and pipeline work,” explains Muniraju. As a result, most MLAs are cautious about the drilling and use of borewells. "I'd rather initiate a survey and then submit a proposal on the requirement of borewells,” says B N Vijaykumar in whose constituency (Jayanagar) the underground water level has gone below 600 feet. There are other ways to ensure that borewells are used judiciously. “We entrust prominent people in the locality with the responsibility of monitoring the borewells and their use," says Basavanagudi MLA L A Ravisubramanya while Raghu says the only option is to recharge the borewells when it rains. Apart from rainwater harvesting,desilting reservoirs and tanks to increase storage capacity could be a smarter alternative to borewells. But this is a long-term measure and will not be of much use this summer. “Had Hesarghatta Lake been rejuvenated, it would have solved our problems. But now, there is no other alternative but to go for borewells," says S Muniraju, MLA from Dasarahalli constituency where a part of the Arkavathi river basin falls. Meanwhile, the clamour for borewells grows louder. High and low
Shettar promises funds The acute shortage of potable water across the state paved way for a heated debate in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. SeveralMLAs, irrespective of the region, demanded speedy action from the government in solving the problem. Responding to the demands, Rural Developmental and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar said, “The problem has come to the notice of the government and steps will be taken soon to drill enough borewells and supply drinking water. Within a week, funds will be released to the task force on potable water for taking adequate steps to mitigate the problem.” |
