water problems

RJ Usha from Radio Active 90.4 MHz talks to Azima, a resident of Banashankari, on the effects of water shortage during COVID-19 lockdown. Azima says shortage of drinking water is a key concern in her locality within Banashankari ward. Drinking water is available only once in about three days, and when water is released from the public tap, people crowd to collect it. This sometimes ends even in fights. Residents of this area do not have any other source of drinking water as they have to travel around a kilometre just to buy a Bisleri bottle.  Azima recounts that she…

That the State government may have to release water to Tamilnadu has been a cause of concern for many Bengalureans. While the Union government of India has been asked to set up a Cauvery Water Management Board, the nation itself is facing another water conflict - with the government deciding to take more water from the river Indus. Welcome to the new era of overpopulation and urbanisation, where public commons are going to be the cause of wars. Water conflicts are going to be common in the future. In Bengaluru, the reality is that according to BWSSB, out of 22…

From taking water for granted, to discovering water scarcity and now managing water sustainably without depending on water tankers, our Sarjapur Road community is very different from the rest of the neighbourhood suffering from water problems. Rainbow Drive (RBD) is a gated community established in 1998-99. Till 2004, no meters in individual houses, water was supplied free. A few houses had private borewells for their own use. After the Residents' Welfare Association was formed in 2004, they started to meter the supplied water at a nominal charge to recover the operational cost. They also decided to ban the digging of…

The residents’ associations of about 15 apartments of Somasundarapalya and Haralukunte, down HSR 27th Main Road have joined together to create a HSR-x Federation to collectively solve their problems and improve their neighbourhood. On Saturday, March 3rd, the group invited Bommanahalli MLA, Satish Reddy and HSR Corporator Latha Narasimhamurthy. Also present were Ravi Reddy, HSR ward BJP president for Bangalore), Syed Salam, businessman, husband of Mangammapalya ward Corporator Syed Haseena Taj and BBMP officials. Satish Reddy, Ravi Reddy and Latha Narasimhamurthy at citizen-MLA meeting, HSR Layout extensions. Pic: Satvik Koushik Virat Gohil, from Sai Poorna Paradise shared the problems of…

Citizens Action Forum (CAF), a federation of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) in Bangalore, held a meeting on Saturday February 19, at the Central College Senate Hall at which three issues were tabled for discussion – the move  by BBMP to hike property tax by 15 per cent, water supply, and  the garbage problem. CAF meeting. From L: M S Mukunda, B N Vijaykumar, Manjunath, Lalithabai, Ashwathnarayana, Venkat Raju and Govindraju. Pic: Meera K. A full house saw representatives of RWA and concerned citizens voice their opinions on these issues to seek responses from ward representatives and MLAs. What remained at…

For a majority of them, it was their first ever chance to speak as people's representatives. That too on a pressing issue. As BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy put it, "It was a golden opportunity. I couldn't have got so much information from anywhere else". For two days, corporators from across Bengaluru voiced their concerns over water-related problems in their wards. Demands for borewells, jetting machines, regular desilting and replacement of old pipes with new ones, were made. Complaints ranged from lack of cooperation from local BWSSB officials, to the need to hold monthly meetings with engineers. The occasional bouquet…

At the two-day special BBMP council session on water, Mayor S K Nataraj and BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy made a slew of announcements to address the water crisis in Bengaluru. These include both short-term and long-term measures to improve infrastructure and ensure water supply to all.Here are announcements made by the BWSSB:111 Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) are being recruited. The process will be completed in the next 15 days193 valve men are being recruited. This will also be completed in the next two weeks78 sanitary workers will be recruited. The BWSSB has only 136 sanitary workers currently, apart from…