Thirsting in B'lore

Thirsting in B'lore

Large swathes of the city are making do with water supply only once a week

Senthalir S. Bangalore
Get ready to feel the heat this summer. Borewells across the city are drying up. Power disruptions have started affecting water supply.
Residents across the city are experiencing acute water shortage.
"We get water only once in a week and that too only for an hour. The borewells in my locality have already dried up. We don't know what to do," said Karnan, a resident of Kasturinagar.
Now the problem of scarce drinking water is not restricted to areas under the seven erstwhile city municipal councils which have been deprived of Cauvery water for some time now. Residential areas well within the city like Nandini Layout and Sarswathipuram too have now begun to feel the pinch.
The north-eastern parts of Bangalore have been badly affected.
The demand for water too has also shot up. The city requires 100 more million litres of water every day (mld) this summer.
There are no alternative arrangements being worked out by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to tackle the developing crisis.
"We get around 860 mld of water and in summer the demand increases. There is a shortage of water. The only way out is conservation of water. We are planning for a water conservation campaign from March to spread awareness," said a BWSSB spokesperson. He said that 50,000 water tankers were needed to meet the city's demands and it was just not possible. "To draw Cauvery water from the Kabini and KRS reservoirs and supply it to the city, power supply is a must. The fluctuations in power in summer have always been a problem. It will affect the water supply to many areas," said a BWSSB official.