Where is 30 pc of Bangalore's water going?

Where is 30 pc of Bangalore's water going?


N R Madhusudhan |ENS
First Published : 24 Oct 2008 07:48:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 24 Oct 2008 11:02:18 AM IST

BANGALORE: Nearly 30 per cent of the water supplied by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) goes unaccounted for and the BWSSB is still grappling with plans to minimise such illegal use.

Nearly eight per cent of the total 870 million litres per day of water being supplied by the BWSSB leaks out of the corroded pipelines that were laid long ago and some percentage of the water is freely supplied to slums in the city.

Some of the slums are densely-populated and consume a lot of water.

The BWSSB supplies some percentage of water in about 45 tankers to areas that do not receive proper water supply.

Out of this, some water is sucked out by unauthorised and illegal connections.

An official, on condition of anonymity, said that efforts were on to bring down the amount of unaccounted for water and the BWSSB has already started replacing the old and corroded pipelines.

All the existing pipelines in Bharathinagar are being replaced at a total cost of Rs 2 crore. Further, the BWSSB is planning to replace the pipelines at Aramanenagara and Sanjayanagara at a cost of Rs 5 crore and Rs 20 crore respectively.

The BWSSB was also planning to develop Aramanenagara and Sanjaynagara as model wards in the city, he said.

The BWSSB was planning to remove public taps from areas which have metered connections to stop pilferage.

Most of the unauthorised connections which are in slums are difficult to trace. The BWSSB will be imposing heavy penalties on those who take unauthorised connections and such unauthorised connections would be metered as soon as they are traced, the officer said.