Fifty-five-year-old Shantha Krishnan, a homemaker in Ramamurthy Nagar, spends Rs300 to get a water tanker once every three days to meet her family’s need of water. The problem is especially acute in the summer. “We are still waiting for Cauvery water. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) collected charges for laying pipelines to supply Cauvery water, and we hope to get it at least by 2012. That would ease the situation,” she said.
BWSSB minister Katta Subramanya Naidu had words that would sound like music to the Krishnan household: “Work on Cauvery
Water Supply Scheme Stage IV Phase II, which will provide 500 million litres of water per day (mld) to areas of greater Bangalore, will proceed without delay,” he said, adding that he expects the work to be completed by the end of 2011. The minister was speaking at the inauguration of the second phase of Stage IV of the water supply scheme.
The minister added that the current demand for water in the city was 1225 mld at present. By 2050, he estimated that the demand would increase to 2000 mld. Western and northen parts of Bangalore will not face scarcity of water, as projects for water supply to these areas have already been planned. “Allocation for big storage tanks would be announced in this budget. In the next two to three months, these big storage tanks will be set up in the city. The rainwater collected in the storage tanks will be supplied after purification,” said the minister.
Over the next year and a half, 10 places in the city would have sewage treatment plants, and water treated in these would serve to ease the acute shortage of water in summer, the minister said.
Increased demand for water in the city has caused residents to take recourse to digging borewells. “People who supply water in tankers also take borewell water. This is causing a dip in the groundwater level,” an official of the BWSSB said.
Wastage of water through leakage in the pipelines will be checked, as the BWSSB has now installed valves within the pipelines to ensure equitable distribution. Water board chairman PB Ramamurthy said, “The valves will help in checking leakage and ensure equitable distribution.”
On the eve of the presentation of the state budget, speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration function, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said the allocation for the city would be beyond expectations. “The development of Bangalore will be given utmost importance,” he said, and urged Bangaloreans to elect corporators who would develop the city into a model one.
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