Has the Karnataka Ground Water (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Bill 2011, which was approved by the state legislature last week, come too late in the day?
Has the Karnataka Ground Water (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Bill 2011, which was approved by the state legislature last week, come too late in the day?
Yes, feels Susheela Vasudev Rao, president of West of Chord Road Residents’ Welfare Association, who has had the mortification of seeing her 37-year-old open well drying up because of indiscriminate exploitation of ground water in her neighbourhood.
Rao was one of the pioneers of rain water harvesting in her area as she spared no effort to ensure that every drop of rain water that fell on the terrace of her 50x65 sq feet house recharged her open well.
Soon the water table rose and the yield improved not only in her open well but also borewells in the neighbourhood. The season of plenty, however, was short-lived as the owner of a 30x50 sq ft plot on her road dug up a fresh borewell and began selling water.
Tankers began making at least 10 to 15 trips every day.
Soon the water table began dipping in Rao’s neighbourhood even as the ‘businessman’s profits went up. Repeated complaints to authorities has put a temporary stop to this ‘pilfering’. But Rao isn’t too sure if the activity will be completely stopped.
Rao is not excited over the the Karnataka Ground Water Bill 2011. “What’s the point of making rules on borewells after all the water is taken away? It is like locking up the doors after the entire village has been robbed,” she said.
Activists say that the official count of all borewells and open wells including private ones in the city is about 1,25,000. The actual count could be more than four lakh, they observe.
Engineers in Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) admit that the first thing that needs to be done is to stop the wanton exploitation of ground water resources immediately.
“In the last two years, about 2,600 borewells have been installed by BWSSB in the city. About 20-30% of them have failed. What’s the point of adding to the numbers?” an engineer asked.
There are about 8,600 borewells maintained by the BWSSB. About 20% of the borewells that the BWSSB is responsible for have gone dry.
“There are two kinds of problems that we encounter—borewells that go dry as the water table dips and those that go kaput for other reasons. In the case of former, the length of the pipes have to be increased. Another 10% have problems related to motors, cables etc. Contractors have been engaged to attend to this. Residents can dial the call centre at 22238888 to register complaints,” another BWSSB engineer said.
BWSSB engineers said the focus of the board in managing ground water resources is more on rainwater harvesting and recharging ground water.
Recharging ground water will help borewells, engineers say. But they do not see the lack of regulation of digging of borewells as counterproductive to the former. They suggest that efforts be channelled to enhance ground water table by harvesting rain water in large buildings and government properties.
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