Bengaluru Buzz: BWSSB assures water supply | Citizens protest tree felling | BBMP plans household medical waste disposal

BWSSB assures continued water supply, BBMP plans scientific disposal of household biomedical waste, citizens protest decision to axe over 600 trees for Metro - read more on what happened in Bengaluru over the past week

 

BWSSB: There’s enough water, don’t panic

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) says there is enough water available in reservoirs for Bengaluru, and hence there is no need to panic. The city’s water sources now are the Krishna Raja Sagar dam and the Kabini river. These can service the city with drinking water till June end, says BWSSB.

In a recent drought advisory to six states including Karnataka, the central government had warned that water shortage in the dams has dropped to critical levels.

While areas served by BWSSB have got more or less regular supply this summer, residents outside the network have been relying on borewells and private tankers.

Currently, BWSSB is supplying water to the city at its maximum capacity of 1453 MLD (Million Litres per Day), compared to 1383 MLD in 2018 and 1350 MLD in 2017. Additionally, the city is using approximately 400 MLD of groundwater everyday. The Board says this groundwater usage will reduce once all 800 sq kms of Bengaluru is made serviceable by BWSSB. Currently the Board serves only 95 lakh Bengalureans through 9.5 lakh connections, whereas the city’s total population is 1.2 crores.

Source: Bangalore Mirror | The Times of India

Citizens protest at public consultation   

At a  public consultation meeting with the Forest Cell of BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), citizen activists expressed anger over Metro construction from Jayanagar Fire Station on Bannerghatta Road to Nagawara Metro Station. They complained that both the BBMP and BMRC (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation) had not held public consultations on the decision to axe 615 trees on this stretch for Metro construction.

Citizens demanded that the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) at BBMP, M K Cholarajappa, explain why no public notification or sanction details of the project had been given to the public. Cholarajappa said that details of the trees to be cut would be shared at the next public consultation.

Source: Deccan Herald

BBMP plans better disposal of household biomedical waste

BBMP has called tenders for secondary collection of household biomedical and sanitary waste from all Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs). The corporation plans to arrange transport and scientific disposal of such waste. With this, household biomedical waste will be dropped off at DWCCs, and from here, this waste will be picked up and handed to biomedical agencies for scientific disposal.

Without such secondary pick-up from DWCCs, household biomedical and sanitary waste gets mixed with other dry waste, and ends up in landfills or is only partially collected by biomedical agencies. Almost 40 tonnes of biomedical and sanitary waste is produced in the city every day.

Source: Deccan Herald

Varsity plans to harvest rains

Soon, Bangalore University will construct a 1.4 km check dam, as well as a rainwater harvesting system spread across 8,000 square metres, in its campus. This would directly recharge the groundwater table in the area. Experts are being consulted for both the projects. If finalised, these projects will enhance the already-existing rainwater harvesting and recharge systems in the university.

Currently BU campus has six check dams, a water pool with capacity of 12 lakh litres, eight recharge pits and a 23-year-old borewell. You can find water in the borewell just 5 to 6 metres below ground, which proves the efficiency of recharge pits in the campus.

Source: Bangalore Mirror

[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]

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