Series: Property Owner’s Water Guide

The Cauvery Stage IV Phase II project is on, which means Bangaloreans will get up to 500 million litres of water per day. The new project is set to benefit the residents of seven City Municipal Councils Yelahanka, Byatarayanapura, Bommanahalli, Mahadevpura, K.R. Puram, Rajarajeshwarinagar, Dasarahalli and one Town Municipal Council Kengeri. See the full details of who will get water here. There are 110 villages that will NOT benefit under this scheme. How much of water from the Cauvery Stage IV, Phase II is reaching citizens? Which areas are getting it? If your area is supposed to be covered and…

With buildings trying to reach out to the sky, borewells reach down the other extreme. BWSSB is now trying to enforce the groundwater rules that came into force late last year. The Karnataka Groundwater Act, 2011 to track ground water exploitation calls for declaration of existing borewells/tubewells and mandates registration prior to digging any new borewells. File pic All commercial borewell drillers need to register themselves with BWSSB and proceed with drilling work after getting a consent letter from BWSSB. "Anybody digging borewells without prior permission from BWSSB will be subject to legal proceedings," says Engineer-in-Chief BWSSB Venkata Raju. "If…

Over 2.4 million (24 lakh) people in Bengaluru face the prospect of severe water shortage in the near future, a study by the Department of Mines and Geology has reported. In fact, going by the growth in population of the city and the water requirement per person per day, the city harbours about 2.2 million (22 lakh) more people than there is piped water to supply them. This is before the commissioning of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme's Stage IV, Phase 2, project. This project if it meets the target of 500 million liters a day (mld), will marginally improve…

Bangaloreans don’t need to look to Cauvery for augmenting water supply, the solution to the Bangalore's water problem remains in treating sewage water. A report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says that around 60% of sewage water in Bengaluru remains untreated. It states that the city has 14 Sewage Treatment Plants with a capacity to treat 721 Million Litres per Day(MLD) but only 302 MLD gets treated. This report titled ‘Excreta Matters’ was released by Sunita Narain- CSE director-general in Bengaluru on June 28th. The report analysed water-sewage situation in 71-cities across India, including Bengaluru.    Sunita suggests…

Have you ever told the driver using a hose to clean the neighbour’s car that he is wasting fresh water, and his response is “Borewell Madam!” with the emphasis on the word borewell? And in a tone suggesting you are so dumb it’s a free and plentiful supply?  That is the crux of the water problem being faced in Bangalore today. That is where education comes in. Where care should be taken by owners of borewells, to be judicious in their use of the water, just like they are with corporation water which they pay for. The Karnataka Ground Water…

Of the 35 lakes in Mahadevpura assembly constituency in northeast Bengaluru, 23 have become dysfunctional, according to a report authored by urban ecologist Dr Harini Nagendra, Ramesh Sivaram (member of resident association federation of Bellandur) and Dr S Subramanya (Professor at University of Agricultural Sciences). The report classifies seven lakes as ‘extremely polluted', another seven as ‘heavily polluted, drying' and nine lakes as ‘completely dry'. Only 10 ten lakes are categorised as healthy while two are under restoration. Bengaluru-based Harini is also co-author of papers with US-based political scientist Elinor Ostrom, Nobel prize winner for Economics in 2009. Harini Nagendra,…

Sharad and Sheetal Agarwal, a young couple living in South Bengaluru spend Rs. 500 and above on drinking water every month. They bought a water purifier from a reputed company three years ago but felt it wasn’t safe after frequent gastro problems. "Our building receives water from tankers mainly and we aren’t really sure of the source and how effective our purifier is, so we felt buying 20 litre Bisleri bottles was a safer option," Sheetal says. The couple plan to acquire a new water purifier but are not sure which system would give them foolproof protection against contamination and…

It was recently announced in the media that residents of Pune would face a significant water cut (20-30%) as the dams supplying water to the city have only enough to last for about 15-18 days. Shocking and scary, to say the least. But then again, it should come as no surprise, given the way we consume water in urban India. 135 litres. That is the official per capita consumption of water per day in urban India, says S Vishwanath, Founder, Rainwater Club. A rough break-up of this reveals just how easily we manage this:  40 litres for flushing ; 20…

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for the sustainable management of fresh water resources. An international day to celebrate fresh water was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Infrequent BWSSB water supply. (Illustration: Madhu Ramaswamy) It is an irony that in Bangalore, water gets significantly more expensive the poorer you get. Water is a subsidized commodity for those who…

This is a quick primer by for Bangaloreans on borewells, open wells, recharging, and undergound acquifers. Bangalore originally used to rely on open wells more than borewells. Open wells get their water from shallow acquifers that lie at depths of less than 80 feet from the ground. Many parts of Bangalore still have open wells. Illustration: Sripathy Konada, Biome Environmental Solutions. Click for larger picture. Borewells are in essence, narrow holes dug deep into the ground. A borewell taps into a deep acquifer, which essentially water in rocks. Because waters of shallow acquifers are subject to contamination (in part to…