Cauvery is Bangalore’s lifeline

Cauvery is Bangalore’s lifeline
Deccan Herald

The many hands that were with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board through the years when it networked the drinking water supply in the city, observe that Cauvery water supply infrastructure “was designed and implemented” to meet the needs of entire Bangalore and not just parts of the city.

The many hands that were with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board through the years when it networked the drinking water supply in the city, observe that Cauvery water supply infrastructure “was designed and implemented” to meet the needs of entire Bangalore and not just parts of the city.

In this context, the Cauvery Tribunal’s judgement giving consideration to only those parts of the city which come under the basin area, do not hold water, according to these experts.

These experts, who are former chairpersons and former chief engineers of the BWSSB, opine that this aspect will not be an issue since Karnataka had in its arguments before the tribunal, always maintained that its priority will be for drinking water. The real issue now is how best the government will manage the act of cutting down on the irrigation component and will the farmers allow it, they said.

They recalled that in 1994-95, Tamil Nadu had objected to Bangalore’ s Cauvery Stage III project and the Central government with Mr B Shankaranand as Union irrigation minister had supported Karnataka’s case.

BWSSB’s serving staff, including Chairperson N C Muniyappa, declined to comment on the issue as the state government is still studying the verdict. Official sources, however, noted that there was nothing to worry, as it is only 12 TMC ft of the 19 TMC ft water currently available for drinking water requirements, which is being utilised, they said. What are Bangalore’s other options? Does it have an alternative to Cauvery?

Former Chairmen B N Thyagaraja and H S Puttakempanna said that the earlier proposal on augmenting the supply to TG Halli reservoir from the River Hemavathy could be revived. If Chennai can get water from the River Krishna, why not Bangalore from Hemavathy is their question. It was recalled that such a proposal submitted to the government a few years ago fell through after elected representatives from Tumkur area raised objections.

Mr Thyagaraja, who was also a part of the one-time thinktank on water supply and irrigation constituted by the State government, noted that in the worst case, water in Vrishbhavathi canal may be treated at a point near Byramangala and pumped back to the city.

Mr Narayan Iyengar, retired chief engineer, noted that the very fact that contingency arrangements against supply from T G Halli was incorporated into the Cauvery IV Stage I Phase project meant that Bangalore does not have much options beyond Cauvery to meet drinking water needs. The supply lines drawn from Vasanthapura to Hegganahalli, there on to Kothanur Dinne, Hoody etc were meant to cater to areas which otherwise received water from TG Halli, he noted.