Bangalore city heading for a water crisis

Bangalore city heading for a water crisis



N R MadhusudhanFirst Published : 02 Apr 2009 05:00:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 02 Apr 2009 08:40:05 AM IST
BANGALORE: Taps in the city might go dry as the Krishnaraja Sagar dam, the main source of water to the city, has almost dried up.
While the demand for water has increased due to the onset of summer, the sources of water are gradually drying up.
There is only 7 TMC of water left in KRS. Everyday, 3,700 cusecs are being released from the dam. If it does not rain in a month, the dam will dry up.
Thippgondanahalli tank is the other major source of water.
But there is only 30 ft feet of water left in this reservoir.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) supplies 870 MLD of water everyday from Cauvery and 60 MLD from Thippgondanahalli.
Sources in BWSSB said if KRS dries up, the board will not be able to supply water.
Bangalore’s 5.64 lakh water consumers will have to brace themselves for dry days. The BWSSB is making efforts to meet the increased demand. It has drilled 163 new borewells in the core area of the city and 516 borewells in CMC areas.
At present, BWSSB is maintaining 5,387 borewells.
But BWSSB warns that it all depends on the rains. If it doesn’t rain soon, these borewells might also dry up due to over exploitation of the ground water.