Bengaluru is fast running out of water!

Earlier this week, residents of an apartment complex in Akshaynagar received a circular urging them to use water judiciously, while also suggesting a shutdown of water supply for a few hours every day during ‘non-peak’ hours to tide over the city’s current water crisis. In the absence of Cauvery water supply and fast drying borewells, the society with close to 2,000 flats, is, like many others in the area, heavily dependent on external vendors (water tankers).
“Last year, during peak summer, we were getting as many as 110 tanker loads of water per day. Given the increased demands now, our vendors are demanding an increase in payment, which will have a considerable impact on our maintenance charges. In the interim, we have asked residents to use water diligently. Rationing supply and asking residents to store water could result in wastage, so we have asked them to utilise the reject from RO water filters, while also installing aerators in most pipes to reduce water pressure and, ‘thereby’ use,” says Debjani Dutta, a resident of another society with close to 1,500 apartments.
While the society Debjani lives in uses rain water to ‘charge’ existing borewells, treated sewage is recycled for usage in toilets and garden maintenance, ensuring that the water they pay for is only meant for household use. “Even though ours is a relatively smaller society with only 90 flats, the borewells dried up long ago. While we do have Cauvery water supply, during summer we are dependent on tankers for extra water. To ensure that residents use water sparingly, we introduced individual billing per flat, by installing meters. At a one-time cost, every apartment now has two meters each to measure Cauvery water and borewell/sump water use. Once they became conscious of their actual use, vis a vis earlier calculations of total water charges for the society divided by the number of flats, there was a reduction in overall usage. Every time a resident goes on vacation, they now ask us to close the water valve leading to their flat(s) to ensure that there are no leaks that affect their bills,” explains Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Kumaraswamy layout.
But irrespective of the kind of water supply received, Bengalureans are looking at a harsh summer if the city does not receive pre-monsoon showers soon, says environmentalist Akshay Heblikar. “Bengaluru does not have a perennial source of water, given that most of our rivers and lakes have either dried up or have been encroached upon. We need to be extremely cautious as far as water use is concerned. Most Bengalureans live in the peripheral areas of the city, most of which were classified grey with no groundwater several years ago. The Cauvery continues to be the primary source of water for Bengaluru, followed by borewells, but with the catchment area shrinking by as much as 35%, in the next three-five years we will not have water,” he says.
Household and industrial use apart, Akshay says that all the infrastructure work that is going on in different parts of the city is to blame for wastage of good water. “Bengaluru cannot even sustain many of these projects, yet work has begun. This could have easily been deferred by a few years. The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board actually has a very efficient water treatment plant and has plenty of recycled water that can be supplied to the city at lower costs. But there is reluctance at the end of the consumer to pursue this, as it would require a one-time investment in laying new pipes,” he says.
While revival of the city’s water bodies and effective rainwater harvesting are the only ways forward, the smaller and more immediate steps that Bengalureans can adopt, says Akshay, include using treated water wherever possible, especially for activities such as gardening and car wash.