BWSSB ready to meet city’s water needs

BWSSB ready to meet city’s water needs

Staff Reporter

It has projects worth Rs. 4,499 crore in the pipeline

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy reviews the board’s plans

It will use state-of-the-art technology to treat waste water

— Photo: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

BIG PLANS: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy addressing a BWSSB review meeting in Bangalore on Thursday. Minister for Health R. Ashok is seen.

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has in the pipeline projects worth Rs. 4,499.43 crore to augment supply, provide water supply and sanitation to the new areas coming under the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.

The projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) total Rs. 5,431.43 crore.

With the city’s population burgeoning at 75 lakh and expected to touch one crore by 2021, and cross 1.25 crore in 2036, the BWSSB will have to gear up to meet the water needs of the city with augmentation of supply, treatment and recycling of sewage water, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said here on Thursday.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who reviewed the board’s plans, told presspersons that in a pioneering initiative the board would use state-of-the-start technology to treat waste water and make it safe to be considered potable.

The board is using reverse osmosis or ultra filtration process to treat waste water, which is mixed with raw water and further treated by using conventional treatment process and disinfected before supplying for potable purposes.

The process completely removes all bacteria and the level of purity achieved is equivalent to that of potable water, BWSSB Chairperson Latha Krishna Rao said.

The board supplies 840 million litres per day to the city from the Cauvery and the Arkavathy, covering the core area of 226 sq km and an additional 75 sq km adjacent to the core area. And the per capita water supply is 100 litres to 110 litres.

The current initiatives of the BWSSB are to ensure a supply of 1,500 million litres per day by 2015, and unless augmented, the city will be looking at a gap in supply and demand of 1,050 million litres per day in 2036.

The capacity of the sewage water treatment plants is 718 million litres per day, but the treatment plants at 12 locations are treating only 350 million litres per day of sewage generated in the core area daily.

The Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage IV Phase II has been taken up with financial assistance of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and this would augment supply by 500 million litres per day by 2011-12.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said considering that ground water was scarce and peripheral Bangalore was expanding rapidly, the BWSSB would have to work fast and begin utilising the treatment plants to maximum capacity and use treated water for non-potable purposes.

The main project taken up by the BWSSB is the Rs. 3,443-crore to add 500 MLD water from the Cauvery.
Another project

A Rs. 450-crore project has been taken up under the Greater Bangalore Water and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) to provide water supply facilities to the eight urban local bodies, including Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Dasarahalli and Kengeri.

Sanitation will be provided to these areas under the Karnataka Municipal Road Project at a cost of Rs. 403 crore.

The project to provide flow meters for the distribution system and augment supply by a 100 million litres per day from the Cauvery sources, the rehabilitation of 80 km of existing trunk sewers will cost Rs. 203.43 crore.

The JNNURM projects include a proposal for Rs. 1,000-crore scheme to provide water supply and sanitation to 110 villages which have now been included in the BBMP, rehabilitation of water supply distribution network in the core area at Rs. 700 crore, installation of ultra filtration for treating 200 million litres per day waste water in Vrishabhavathy Valley downstream at Rs. 900 crore, and at Koramangala Challaghatta Valley at a cost of Rs. 1,830 crore.