Articles by Vishwanath Srikantaiah

Multi-storied apartments are everywhere, dotting the skyline in our cities. Ground plus 19 is the norm rather than the exception. As apartment dwellers everywhere are finding out this summer, water is a major challenge to manage, with the city running scarce to supply this resource. If you are a new buyer, it would be wise to ask the following questions from the builder before you make that investment of a crore or more. This is a simple checklist: What are the sources of water for the flat especially in summer? Bore wells are simply unable to supply water when densities…

Chennai is reeling under a severe water shortage and Bengaluru, the NITI Aayog says, will run out of groundwater by 2020. What ties these two large metropolis is, unfortunately, a dispute over a river. It is an unhealthy link. Both these cities are not exactly in the Cauvery river basin , though dependent on the river for their water requirements . Only one third of Bengaluru is in the river basin and Chennai is not in the river basin at all, yet draws water from the Veeranam tank within the delta. A civilizational change is transforming the river. An urban…

The Supreme Court has put a stay on the pumping of treated wastewater to Kolar tanks from the wastewater treatment plants in the Koramangala and Chalaghatta valley of Bengaluru, comes the news. The stay means that this volume of treated wastewater will flow in the Dakshina Pinakini, mix with volumes of untreated wastewater and reach Kelavarapalle dam near Hosur in Tamil Nadu. These waters will then be used to irrigate 1085 acres of land to be cultivated by Tamil Nadu farmers. Some amount of the water will also be picked up by farmers in Karnataka through pumps for irrigation. A…

A recent article on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website listed Bengaluru among the 11 cities that will go out of water soon. The article said: " Local officials in the southern Indian city have been bamboozled by the growth of new property developments following Bangalore's rise as a technological hub and are struggling to manage the city's water and sewage systems. To make matters worse, the city's antiquated plumbing needs an urgent upheaval; a report by the national government found that the city loses over half of its drinking water to waste. Like China, India struggles with water pollution and…

Here is a drainage map of the city of Bengaluru sourced from the Central Ground Water Board website. No city sitting on a ridge line should actually get flooded but we have achieved the impossible — of course in parts. A dotted ridge line divides the city between the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin and the Dakshina Pinakini, from the North to the South. There is a huge difference between these two in the slope, the hydro-geology, the soil, the rainfall, the built up area etc. The drainage patterns - the rajkaluves - are interesting too. They are more dendritic in the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin…

One of the things emerging from the Cauvery crisis is the complete absence of communication from all parties regarding data on the basis of which decisions are being made or are being requested to be made. For instance why has the Supreme Court now asked that 6000 cusecs of water be released for six days from October 1st to October 6th? This amounts to 3.55 TMC of water. What is the reasoning here? Is it pro-rata proportional distress sharing? How did the Supervisory Committee make its recommendations on the release of a certain quantum of water? What was the logic…

What should Bengaluru - institutions and its citizens - do in the immediate run and the long run, considering the Cauvery dispute and the limits to water scenario? Just remember that only a third among us, or maybe half, are in the Cauvery basin, the rest are not part of the Water Tribunal process. This city has been built on a ridge and in the basin of two rivers, though many of us may not even be able to name the rivers into which Bengaluru empties its sewage. Consider this – we are pumping 1400 million litres of water per…

She stands with folded hands near the dam. Ponnaiyar, Thenpennai, Dakshina Pinakini.... these are the names she personifies. Statue of Dakshina Pinakini in Bhoganandeeshwara temple. Pic: Vishwanath Srikantaiah At the ancient Bhoganandeeswara Temple, children listen to their teacher narrating the story of a spring that comes and fills the step-well. Here is where it all begins. In Kannada there is a saying—never ask about the origins of a sage and a river. Children listening to the story at the Bhoganandeeshwara temple premises. Pic: Vishwanath The city of Bengaluru has made it to international news because two of its lakes started…

There is not even a name for it, not Sangama, not anything, but just Kudlu... the meeting point. Here the Vrushbhavathy, which rises from the Bull Temple in Basavangudi, Bengaluru meets the Arkavathy, which rises from the Nandi Hills range. Urban rivers have become 'nullahs' carrying sewage, the rural rivers—if you can even call it such—are dammed for urban water needs, for irrigation and for electricity. The Arkavathy is born here. At the birth place of the river, the well water is full and clean... The gentleman has been crossing the Arkavathy daily for the last 50 years... he wades across…

Wastewater collection and treatment Wastewater collection and treatment was a rather poor show in 2011. Though underground sewage lines are being laid in the periphery of the city and some decentralised wastewater treatment plants sprang up. Bellandur lake covered in froth due to pollution. File pic: Meera K This will be a real tough challenge for the city because the resource recovery from polluters is also very poor since domestic households who send in the sewage to the lines pay the equivalent of 50 paise a day. Fixing and collecting the right price and making the polluter pays principle will…