Power cut adds to water woes in City

Power cut adds to water woes in City
DH News Service, Bangalore:
There erratic water supply in different parts of the City for the last four days is in turn due to the erratic power supply or total shutdown that have affected pumping of water to different service stations.



Residents who complained to the local BWSSB service stations were informed by officials there that the quantum of water pumped to them was less and hence they were helpless. Even if the main pumping stations that bring Cauvery water to the City, T K Halli, Tataguni and Harohalli, do not get affected, shutdowns in local areas affect pumping of water to the 50-odd pumping stations spread across the City.

Rajkumar, a resident of Thamanna Layout in Lingarajapuram said that his area with 5,000 houses were reeling from water shortage for the last fortnight.

Joseph Menaud of Richards Town Residents Association said that the area suffered from reduced supply on Friday. The Pillana Garden area and John Armstrong Road suffered due to erratic supply of water, he said.

Homemaker Aruna, of Old Madras Road in Ulsoor, said that there was no drinking water in her area on Thursday and Friday. However, Mrs Chandrasekhar, who resides at Lingaiahpalyam of the same area said that water supply had actually improved in her area the last week.

Imtiaz Ahmed of HBR Layout Residents Association said that the Second Block in his area was affected by poor water supply for a month. “I have bought two tankers in just a month,” he added. The HRBR service station, which supplies us water, has been complaining of reduced water levels supplied to it.

Meanwhile, water tankers supplied water to different parts of the City. At Kempe Gowda Nagar in Tumkur Dasarahalli, residents paid Rs 1.50 for a pot of water from a tank.

The BWSSB head office at Cauvery Bhavan claimed that they did not receive any major increase in complaints of late.

A top official said that East and North Bangalore stand to get affected in the case of any shortage. “Whenever any power shutdown occurs at High Ground Reservoir, the water pumped to Malleshwaram, Machilipet and Aero Engine Reservoirs were affected.

Areas dependent on these places suffered as a consequence. Hence, Cox Town, Fraser Town, Cookes Town, D J Halli, HRBR Layout, OMBR Layout, Indira Nagar, R T Nagar, Malleshwaram, Jayamahal Extension, R M V Extension and Yelahanka were likely to get affected. A top BWSSB official said that discussions were on with BESCOM officials to solve the water disruption issue. “We are trying out alternatives to check if pumping stations and a few surrounding spots could be exempted from power disruption even if loadshedding takes place in an area.”