Time to look beyond Cauvery

Time to look beyond Cauvery
Deccan Herald

Even as Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and BWSSB officials are holding several meetings to study the water requirement in the GB area, the discussions seem to be steering towards one solution —look beyond Cauvery.

Should Greater Bangalore bank on Cauvery water to quench its thirst or tackle the known challenges like T&D losses, pilferage or overexploitation of borewells? Even as Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and BWSSB officials are holding several meetings to study the water requirement in the GB area, the discussions seem to be steering towards one solution –look beyond Cauvery.

For the record, the BWSSB provides 810 million litres per day (MLD) of water from Cauvery Water Stage I to VI to the erstwhile BMP area. However, the existing BMP wards are increasingly dependent on additional sources like water tankers and borewells, which are not regulated.

“The newly-added areas in Greater Bangalore can count on the ongoing Rs 16-crore augmentation project, as it promises 100 MLD of water within next six months. That is not all. The BWSSB has signed an MoU with an international funding agency to add 500 million litres per day of Cauvery water to the existing 810 MLD of water. But the project will be completed only in 2011,” said a senior BWSSB official.

“BWSSB is not able to provide Cauvery water to the entire BMP area. While most households are being supplied water through tankers, many are dependent on borewells and public taps. Every day, the BWSSB water tankers supply about 750 kilo litres of water, drawn from the 40 filling stations,” said sources in the BWSSB.

The fourth report of the Public Accounts’ Committee on Cauvery Water supply Scheme Stage VI, phase I, has highlighted the need to plug loopholes in the existing system before tapping alternative sources.

“The BWSSB has suffered a loss of Rs 637 crore over the last five years, owing to transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and unauthorised tapping of water. While the T&D losses are pitched between 35 and 46 per cent, unregulated use of water supplied through tankers needs to be quantified. Unchecked violations like faulty water meter-reading, unauthorised connections, lack of focus on recycling of water are pushing Bangalore city towards a water-scarce situation,” warned the committee members.