Water crisis in Bengaluru: Low rainfall, infrastructural boom named prime accused
Bengaluru: The IT hub of India, Bengaluru is presently grappling with an unprecedented water crisis. The scarcity is has left apartment owners scrambling for water, amidst dried-up borewells and overburdened tanker services.
In order to put a check on misuse of drinking water, Karnataka Water Supply and Sewerage Board bans usage of drinking water for car washing, gardening, construction, water fountains and road construction and maintenance. The board has also imposes a fine of Rs 5000, if the order is violated.
Not only construction, but the crisis has also hit schools and educational institutions. Speaking about the crisis to the Indian Express, Indraa Raju, founder of Abheek Academy said, “The borewell has run dry for the past week and despite repeated calls to several water tankers, we were unsuccessful in getting one. A lot of tankers are now unavailable because they are now under the government ambit and we are finding it difficult to access their services unlike before. Since ours is a homeschool with activity-based learning, we didn’t want to take the risk of continuing our school without water. So, we decided to shut it temporarily until the issue is resolved.”
Meanwhile, some of the government schools have run out of borewell water and the education officials are making efforts to use the tanker services to fulfill the non-drinking water purposes.
Following the crisis, the rates of the tankers have been fixed by the Bengaluru Urban district administration. The fixed rates of the tankers are as follows:
Rates for distances up to 5 km:
- Rs 600 for a 6,000-litre water tanker.
- Rs 700 for an 8,000-litre water tanker.
- Rs 1,000 for a 12,000-litre water tanker.
Rates for distances between 5 km and 10 km:
- Rs 750 for a 6,000-litre water tanker.
- Rs 850 for an 8,000-litre water tanker.
- Rs 1,200 for a 12,000-litre water tanker.
It is worth mentioning here that a major part of the city is connected to piped water supply from the Kaveri River. As this year the city received low rainfall, the urban areas are suffering water capacity.
Additionally, of the 14,700 borewells in Bengaluru, 6,997 have dried up causing the havoc in the city.
According to official reports, among the 236 taluks in Karnataka, 223 have been drought-hit, with 219 severely affected. Reportedly, dry spell affected water supply both from the Cauvery, and borewells that are two of Bengaluru’s principal sources of water.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has allocated Rs 556 crore to address the crisis. As per the plan, each MLA representing Bengaluru has been allotted Rs 10 crore to address water scarcity in their respective constituencies. Additionally, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has set aside Rs 148 crore, while the BWSSB has earmarked Rs 128 crore to address the issue.
Ms Kalinga