Ongoing Water crisis in Bengaluru

Bengaluru is reeling under severe water crisis this summer. The situation is becoming far worse than what has been reported in media. The Government is assuring that they have enough water for Bengaluru for few weeks but the situation is different on the ground. The supply water from BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply & Sewage Board) is hardly supplying Kaveri water to normal public. The BWSSB has started following water rationing already and is also differentiation between normal & VIP public.

I live in HSR Layout. We received Kaveri water only once in last 20 days but enough water was supplied to the pockets of HSR areas where Netas and VIP lives (Line IAS/IPS colony). If the water board has no water then the case should be same for everyone. This is a prime example of preference given to VIPs. Tanker mafia has benefited most from this crisis. A 4000 liters tanker generally costs Rs. 400 during normal days and now it costs Rs. 1000 and there is 1-2 days of waiting time. How tanker mafia can have access to so much water that it can supply to whole city but the water board has no water? And tanker mafia works openly. You can find tankers running everywhere in the city without any fear. It seems that government has no control over tanker mafia.

Bengaluru is situated over a plateau 3000 feet above sea level. The city gets its water supply from Kaveri River situated around 50 miles away. As the city is at height, its ground water doesn’t get recharged easily recharged with rains. So the city founders had created numerous lakes in and around the city. But many lakes has vanished and the existing lakes have lost it area considerably to the shopping malls, buildings, roads and other infrastructure projects. And the lakes have become shallow due to pollution and dumping of wastes. It is good that Government has woke up recently and it has started renovation of few lakes on priority basis. Lakes are the lifeline of the city and Bengaluru would become inhabitable if its lakes dry up completely. And the poor monsoon of last few years have added the water crisis in Bangalore. We had water riots last year on the Kaveri water sharing issue in Bengaluru. Let us all hope that good monsoon will be helpful to the farmers and residents of Karnataka.

It is time to act tough to save Bengaluru. The Government must announce a blanket ban on new bore wells like Delhi. Thousands of bore well has dried up as the water level in the city has gone down drastically. It is time to save the little precious ground water which is left. Also water harvesting must become mandatory on all the new buildings and apartment complexes. It is duty of each & every citizen to conserve water. I see that thousands of liters of water is wasted on cleaning the house, cars, watering the gardens etc. It is time to do some innovation to save water. BBMP has realized this and planning to plant many trees in place of grass in gardens to save water. We are running out of time and if proper actions are not taken soon, Bengaluru may become inhabitable soon. Let us hope that we citizens of Bangalore will get temporary respite soon due to good forecasted rains.