Bengaluru’s worsening water crisis: Residents blame corruption, PG hostels, illegal borewells

Claims of illegal mining and bribing

Sandeep Anirudhan, Convenor of Namma Whitefield and Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, emphasised the diminishing frequency of the Cauvery water supply in Mahadevapura and Whitefield areas. “The BWSSB is not giving us authentic details of the inflow and the water distribution. If the inflow has been reduced by 20 percent, then the distribution should be affected only by 20 percent. However, that is not the case here,” Anirudhan told South First.

BWSSB tanker supplying water to a building. (Supplied)

At a recent meeting in the Mahadevapura zonal commissioner’s office, two major issues were discussed. First, the proliferation of Paying Guest (PG) accommodations and the allegations of corruption, with PG owners bribing the valvemen to favour their buildings, impacting water distribution. Second, illegal borewell digging, termed “groundwater theft”, was rampant in Whitefield and Mahadevapura.

“They use the groundwater for construction purposes and they dig borewells during second Saturdays and Sundays, which are holidays for the BWSSB authority, so that even if someone complains, the authorities won’t turn up. Despite the Groundwater Directorate and Karnataka Groundwater Authority having declared that Benglauru is a ‘red zone’ and it is illegal for any borewell digging, this menace continues recklessly up to 1,600 and 1,800 feet down,” Anirudhan explained.

“Though the authorities can regulate and use enforcement against this menace, they allow it under their nose for reasons best known to them. Illegal borewell units and machineries operating can be seized, and the people involved in borewell digging could be arrested. The contractor could have his borewell license cancelled for doing so. There is a six-month imprisonment and a hefty fine for this offence, but all these do not happen as the borewell contractors and building owners have greased the palms of the officials,” Ajeesh, a resident of Mahadevapura, told South First.

He added that with this menace, all the domestic and public borewells in the area have gone dry and the underwater table has been depleted.

The other issue that was discussed at the zonal commissioner’s office meeting was about the illegal water tankers drawing from illegally dug borewells. “For a water tanker with a capacity of 12,000 litres, the cost used to be anywhere between ₹700 and ₹800, but at present, each water tanker costs between ₹1,000 and ₹1,800 in east Bengaluru,” said Anirudhan.

Also Read: As temperature increases in Hyderabad, so do water woes and demand for tankers

Water scarcity — a money-making opportunity?

The surge in water tanker prices in east Bengaluru has raised suspicions among residents like Sajith, a resident of Doddappanahalli on Sarjapura Road, who speculated about political motives. He questioned whether water tanker contractors were making a quick buck in the summer, while sharing profits with both the BWSSB and political affiliates.

“It is just the beginning of summer and there is already scarcity of water in the city. If this continues, what would be situtation of Bengaluru in April and May?” a worried Sajith questioned.

Meanwhile, Ajeesh said that with the elections around the corner, the government in Karnataka would not dare to make a city like Bengaluru reel under water scarcity. “The government would make arrangements to bring in water supply from anywhere to the city and supply it to its citizens,” Ajeesh weighed in.

Water scarcity in Bengaluru was initially reported by apartment dwellers in the city as they were the first to be affected by both low Cauvery water supply as well as the limited water tankers, thanks to the the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).

Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) President Vikram Rai informed South First that the water crisis in the city has been prevalent for the past three to four weeks now.

“We have been hearing a lot of complaints and issues from apartment dwellers. Those who receive BWSSB supply started complaining that there has been irregularlity in water supply compared to before. This varies in different parts of the city, more acutely in the densely populated eastern parts. Our view is that the BWSSB have started rationing the supply of water due to supply pressures, although we have not received any official word on this from the BWSSB. In reality, BWSSB supply has been reduced sporadically and is not so consistent,” Rai told South First.

Rai added that his team has been receiving several complaints from people regarding the price of water tankers, which have shot up from anywhere between 30 to 80 percent and even 100 percent in some places in east Bengaluru.

“There is a clear indication that there is a demand-supply challenge, and the reflex reaction is that people are digging deeper into their borewells. They have told us that ground water levels are depleting so much that even at 1,400 feet to 1,600 feet there is no water available. Following these insights, the BAF has started campaigns to conserve water throughout apartment complexes located in Bengaluru. The campaigns will focus on using aeratos that are checked and serviced, and reusing water as much as possible. BAF also proposes to conduct a water tanker survey and are also exploring options of individual water metering for apartment complexes to regulate water consumption,” Rai explained.

Also Read: Karnataka woman’s well-digging initiative for anganwadi children garners public backing

BWSSB’s reasons for water scarcity

BWSSB Chairman Dr Ram Prasath Manohar V told South First that the Cauvery water supply throughout the city is being continued as such, however borewell water supply has taken a beating as there has been little to no monsoons over the past two years and the ground water has dwindled.

“We are trying to bridge the gap with redistribution of water through tankers to economically weaker sections like slum dwellers and other water-deprived areas, especially inside Bengaluru city. These water tankers are being sent to these locations free of cost and are supplied to sumps and tanks from where the people take it for consumption,” he said.

“Work is also being carried out for the implementation of Stage 5 of the Cauvery project, which is the long-term solution for such problems in the future, especially since 110 villages in the periphery of Bengaluru have been added to the BBMP city limits. As of now, the BWSSB is supplying Cauvery water through the water supply lines to the seven City Municipal Councils (CMCs) and one Town Municipal Council (TMC) areas, and the BBMP has taken up the responsibility to supply water tankers to the 110 villages in the city’s periphery where the borewells have become defunct,” Manohar explained.

Manohar said that there were around 10,995 government borewells in the city and among them, water levels had dwindled in around 3,700 borewells and around 1,214 borewells had completely dried up.

“However, though we have a capacity of 1,450 MLD (megalitres per day) of Cauvery supply water, we have used additional standby motors and are pumping in 1,472 MLD of water — 22 MLD more than the capacity — and are supplying it through the regular Cauvery supply system. We also have a huge capacity of 1,400 MLD of treated water which can be used for non-consumption purposes like gardening, cleaning vehicles, etc. We request the members of the general public to encourage and promote the usage of recycled water and conserve drinking water,” Manohar said.

While Manohar laid blame on the lack of monsoons, environmental activist Arun Prasad attributed the depletion of the water table to heavy concretisation in Bengaluru.

“They have laid white topping roads for tens of kilometres and the rapid urbanisation has caused the rainwater not to percolate into the ground where it falls as rain. These waters find their way through the natural course flowing towards low-lying areas and later fill and breach lakes and cause flooding at those places as those places are also concretised. The rain water does not percolate into the ground and thus the depletion of the underwater table. Rivers and lakes are indicators of how rich the underwater table is,” Arun Prasad told South First.

Also Read: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy asks officials to ensure water supply during summer