groundwater

This Saturday, representatives of over 50 large apartments in Bellandur ward of Mahadevpura constituency met their MLA Aravind Limbavali, demanding a solution to their water woes. Majority of these apartments, located within the 110 villages that became part of BBMP a decade ago, have no BWSSB connections yet. The few who do have BWSSB connections, mostly on the Outer Ring Road side, get erratic supply. Their borewells have dried up, and they are paying cutthroat amounts to private tankers to fulfil their minimum water requirements. Even then, they don’t have enough water. BBMP asked to supply water, reign in private…

As we left behind the vivacious bustles of the city and headed forward from Yelahanka, we could instantly sense a change in the landscape. We stared outside at the vast fields, the little tin shanties, the lush spread of green foliage dotting both sides of the way and could hear the merry chirps of the birds. By deviating left from the road leading further north towards Dodballapura, we encountered more greenery, amidst blue barricades fortifying spaces that are yet to rise into Bengaluru’s urban jungle. In next few minutes, we were in Mavallipura, one of the fifteen villages administered by…

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has been serving illegal notices to apartment residents, threatening to disconnect electricity and water, with the malafide intent of extortion by corrupt officials, says a press note from Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF). Apartment associations are reportedly refusing to bribe the officials who want to “settle” matters, and have joined hands under the aegis of Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) to fight against these unlawful and malafide practices, informs the notice. The KSPCB notices cite conditions which are completely against the rules laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment…

Karnataka government’s ambitious project of supplying treated water from Bengaluru to the arid districts surrounding Bengaluru ran into problem, when the Karnataka High Court directed the government to stop the pumping of treated water until further instructions. However experts say the idea of reusing treated water is a good one by itself, if proper processes can be put in place. But with protests by residents of the districts supported by their elected representatives growing louder by the day, will this project get killed even before the government attempts to make it work right? The idea of using treated water to…

If you have a maxed out your credit card, you may be scrambling to pay your outstanding bills. India’s technology hub, Bengaluru, with its dying lakes and mushrooming urban growth, is facing a similar situation – it has overexploited its groundwater and is now struggling to keep up with the demand, according to an expert. “We are using groundwater like an overdrawn credit card and we don’t have the capacity to repay,” said Samrat Basak of World Resources Institute India (WRI India) expanding on an analysis by the global research organisation. The WRI India analysis, accessed by Mongabay-India, notes that…

So World Water Day is here again and it is time for us all to be reminded of habits that we really must practise the year round! Two questions at the outset: first, can you ever imagine bathing with expensive mineral water, when tap water is available? And second, can you bathe/shower with 5 mugs of water? I am sure the answer to both is no, but hang on to those answers till we revisit them, after we establish that the situation this year is worse than ever before. Yes, it is time to worry! First Cape Town running out…

A recent BBC report projected that Bengaluru will run out of water soon. Yes, it was a superficial list of cities that already have water problem. It just pronounced the harsh verdict without any in-depth analysis of the factors involved. That’s like taking a casual look at an emaciated man and saying, “he is going to die soon”. But in this case, all the x-rays and MRIs are only going to confirm the same verdict. Ignoring the problem is going to worsen the situation. Let’s have a look at this complicated case, Munnabhai-style. He is bound to say, “Ae maamu!…

Who we are: We are a group of four engineering students from the University of Washington working in collaboration with a local environmental NGO. For the past two months, we have been learning about Bengaluru’s relationship with its water resources. Our team has taken a particular interest in the city’s groundwater supply. We are reaching out to engaged citizens to gather feedback on our project. Background and problem Groundwater monitoring is essential in understanding the availability of underground aquifers. In the city of Bengaluru, only around half of the city serviced by Cauvery water through BWSSB’s distributed system while the…

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…

Our preferred imagination of an urban lake is mostly blue water with a well-maintained walking track all along, some trees on the periphery and some birds on them. That imagination is of course broken when the lake stinks, froths, has plastic strewn around. And when we see overgrown typha reeds in the lake, floating hyacinth and alligator weed, when the lake turns from blue to green, that imagination is broken. And then we want to rejuvenate the lake and turn it blue again. Lower Ambalipura lake / wetland If we were to step back and think why is it that…