There is no crisis, says BWSSB

There is no crisis, says BWSSB

The Hindu

BANGALORE: The shortfall of about 70 million litres of water per day in the city does not amount to a crisis, N.C. Muniyappa, Chairman of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), said here on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day workshop organised by BWSSB on the occasion of World Water Day, Mr. Muniyappa said that because of the low levels of water at Thippagondanahalli reservoir, the board was pumping only 30 million litres a day as opposed to 104 million litres that was being pumped last year.

While measures were being taken to provide Cauvery water to areas previously served by the T.G. Halli, BWSSB was hastening up the augmentation project taken up three months ago to get 100 million litres per day to Bangalore city from the Cauvery. "The project was due to be completed by June end, but we are working day and night to have it ready by first week of May," Mr. Muniyappa said.

The number of connections had increased by 80,000 to five lakh in the last one year while the amount of water the BWSSB could provide remained at 900 MLD for the past five years, he said.

The BWSSB had announced a slew of measures to combat water scarcity. Reinstating mini-water schemes with the help of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and rejuvenating borewells in the city were two such initiatives. The BWSSB had 3,000 mini-water schemes and 3,250 borewells. For the past week, tankers had made 1,378 trips to provide water at various parts of the city. More tankers would be available on call to citizens at the six offices of the BWSSB. The numbers are: East: 22945158, West: 22945171, North: 22945139, South: 22945143, Central: 22945187 and South East: 22945196.