WATER-CLOCK IS TICKING

WATER-CLOCK IS TICKING
Booming Bangalore needs to think ahead, or residents of new areas will neither have Cauvery water nor borewells to sustain them
S Kushala & Jayashree Nandi | TNN

Bangalore: An apartment block of 500 flats spends Rs 7.2 lakh per month to buy water! The residents spend Rs 24,000 for 80 water tankers per day. The high price notwithstanding, the residents as yet have no control over water usage, and end up wasting 50% of the water they buy.
This water-starved cluster of housing colonies is situated along the Outer Ring Road, off Sarjapur Road.
They are ready to pay, but not conserve. An ongoing study by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and researchers from Sweden has thrown up interesting observations. The residents use around 400 litres of water per person per day, vis-a-vis the normal 150 litres. The impact of the water crisis is such that these new apartments are not sure how they will sustain themselves in the long run. A report on newly-added areas and their water needs points out that water reuse can ease the situation to a great extent.
STUDY IN PROGRESS
The study is being carried out in different water-starved areas of the city by researcher at Linkoping University in Sweden Jan-Olaf Drangert, researcher at Stockholm Resilience Centre Jenny T Gronwall and KSPCB chairman H C Sharatchandra. The study looks at how a fast-growing city like Bangalore is an example of third-generation water management that can utilize used water as a source. These apartments dotting Sarjapur Road were sold by developers, who promised the moon. By the time the buyers realised that their dream homes could not get Cauvery water connections, it was too late — neither could they sell their flats nor abandon them. The only option was to pay a fortune for water tankers and mineral water cans. On an average, the monthly water expense of these households comes to Rs 1,500-2,000.
“In the initial days of our study, we observed that these apartments used to get 140 tankers. The tanker agencies would cheat them with halftank supply. After counselling the residents, the numbers came down to 80-100. But still, the per person usage is high, the culprits being the maids,’’ says Drangert.
These apartments are in proximity to Bellandur Lake and many tankers drew water from wells near the lake. The water would smell as the lake is highly polluted and water holes surrounding Bellandur are also polluted.