North, east Bengaluru’s water woes to end

North, east Bengaluru’s water woes to end

December 15th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Tags: Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board, water woes

Dec. 14: People of north and east Bengaluru who don’t always receive enough water have now reason to smile. The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) promises that all parts of the city will get equal supply of water in the next six to 12 months.
BWSSB chairman P B Ramamurthy told the Deccan Chronicle that the board is installing 218 mega meters all over the city at a cost of Rs 13 crore to measure the amount of water distributed to each division and rectify problems if any.
‘‘We will make a detailed study of the amount of water reaching each division over the next six months and later assess if there are problems in distribution. Corrective measures will follow,” he explained. Work on installing the meters will be completed by the month end. Currently the BWSSB is meeting the water requirements of only around 45 per cent of the city, covering 300 sq. kms of the 800.29sq kms that it is spread over.
Although the present demand for water is 1,125 mld, it is able to supply only 870 mld. While the BWSSB tries to ensure 120 litres per capita daily per household of five, people in the northern and eastern parts of the city invariably receive less water than others. Those living in areas like Jeevanbhimanagar, Indiranagar, R T Nagar, and Hebbal end up depending on private tanker suppliers, paying upto Rs 45 a kilo litre of water.
Summer is a testing time for these areas with the BWSSB itself facing a shortage of water. It is to avoid this sort of a situation that the civic agency has now hit upon the making sure all areas get an equal share of water in the city, says T. Venkatraju, chief engineer, BWSSB.