Water Shortage Crisis Looms Large In Bangalore, India

Bangalore, India’s third largest city and one of the fastest growing economic hubs in South Asia, stares at an almost certain water crisis in the near future as both the civic administration and the citizens struggle to cope with the already dwindling fresh water resources.

Home to more than 9.5 million people and rapidly adding migrants to this number who come every day to this city to find their dream job, Bangalore is fighting to cope with the increasing demands of its population. The most important demand remains for fresh water.

In a recently concluded discussion on Bangalore’s water crisis, local administrative board Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Treatment Board, Chairman Gaurav Gupta claimed:

If you are taking a property in Bengaluru, especially in the peripheral areas, take at your own risk! We really don’t have water for those areas.

Melinda Gates speaks with women serving on the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board.  Image from Flickr by Gates Foundation. BY-NC-ND (Bangalore, India, 2005)

Melinda Gates speaks with women serving on the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Image from Flickr by Gates Foundation. BY-NC-ND (Bangalore, India, 2005)

Bangalore’s primary sources of fresh water are the Cauvery river, its 600-odd lakes and the ever reliable underground water resources. However, the local authorities claim that Bangalore only has 189 live lakes. The rest of the lakes are either carelessly encroached upon or have severe contamination by sewage water.

Bangalore has doubled its population since 2001 and mindless planning of infrastructure has led to depletion and contamination of ground water. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which was so far drawing 1.15 billion litres of water per day through all the four stages of the Cauvery, is now drawing only 800 million litres per day taking the shortage to 350 litres per day.

This contaminated water was found to have at least four strains of bacteria which can cause severe intestinal infections. Where does this water end up? It seeps through the lake bed into the city’s underground water, which is pumped into the city’s households by bore wells. A shocking study by Eureka Forbes Limited, Mumbai claims that the people of Bangalore are immune to some strains of these bacteria as they have been drinking this water for more than ten years now.

It’s not just contamination, Bangalore is the fastest growing real estate market in the country, and this translates to large apartments, villas, and bungalows in all parts of the city. Since the landscape is dotted by concrete structures, the rain water runs off into drains without seeping through the soil, thereby severely depleting the underground water resources. What’s worse is that the construction of elevated expressways and the Bangalore Metro Rail has rapidly depleted Bangalore’s green cover, effecting rainfall adversely.

The causes for this acute shortage are highlighted in Goutham Sampath's blog “Bangalore Realty”:

Bangalore was free of air-conditioned malls and multiplexes, but shopping and entertainment options were still plentiful. Bangalore was free of its Information Technology tag, but was still a reasonably significant industrial manufacturing hub. With its tree-lined roads, large open spaces and now abundant Cauvery water, Bangalore was really the Pensioner's Paradise, where retired folks could live without any worries.

Ritwik Kaikini, an engineering student from south Bangalore, told Global Voices how even the trucks used to transport fresh water are faulty: “There is leakage in almost all the water trucks, always. Half the water leaks away till they reach the destination and this is just criminal wastage of water”.

Purushotham Daldur, a student and a resident of the same area, said, “I feel even the pipes used to transport fresh water are faulty.”

Ananth Narayan S wrote in his blog how even the most perennial sources of water in Bangalore are running dry:

With an extremely poor monsoon in the previous year, most lakes had dried up. What was surprising however was that the only perennial water body in Bangalore – the sewer lines – had also dried up. The citizens and the Bangalore municipal corporation (BBMP) are at a loss on how to handle the situation. The BBMP said “We have water treatment plants in the city. Those used to satisfy a small portion of the city's water needs. Now even that is lost. We are not sure how to handle the situation; for now an ad hoc committee has been constituted”.

This problem is being faced by Pune, Hyderabad, and other growing cities too, as Sainath P in newspaper the Hindu reported:

Every apartment is a dream come true — the coronet that tops the king-sized lifestyle of true blue blood. So run the ads. Yup, the blue bloods do it big. Each apartment has its own private swimming pool. These are, after all, super-luxurious, supersized designer apartments. The kind that match the royal lifestyles.

It seems the thousands of skyscrapers in India’s big cities are luxuriously using fresh water to fill-up the pools of the super-rich but on the other hand, the middle class and the poor reel under what is one of Bangalore’s worst civic problems in centuries.

At a time when the city of Bangalore is reeling under an acute water crisis, more than 150 volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore along with founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar led a walkathon with posters on how to save water in July 2013.

The spiritual guru told NDTV, a national news channel:

Water is such a scarce thing now and we must do all we can to judiciously use it. Our volunteers are trying to prevent one of the small rivers, the Kumudvathi in Bangalore from drying up. They are planting trees in the area which can help prevent soil erosion, building boulder checks. Anything which can help rejuvenate and revive our natural resources must be done, today and now.

Among all the negative information come a few rays of hope when citizens take it upon themselves to save water and check water wastage by doing common things around the house and offices.

Another story that offers a glimmer of hope is that of A.R. Shivakumar, a senior fellow of Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Shivkumar, who is nicknamed as Bangalore's rain catcher, says that to meet the Bangalore's high water consumption (1.4 billion litres per day or 18 billion cubic feet) rain water harvesting is the answer.

While the authorities have made it mandatory for all houses in Bangalore larger than 2,400 square feet to harvest rain water, many have avoided the trouble of installing a rain water harvest system. The local authorities must swing into action in order to ensure this ingenious solution is implanted at a time of a crisis like this one.

How Bangalore tackles this issue is going to be critical, as the same model can be used to solve the water crisis in other cities which are on the verge of urbanization. What is needed now is swift action by the civic authorities and a united front by the citizens to help preserve what little water is available.

11 comments

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  • Nitin Parikh

    Grim situation,but this was waiting o happen.CM,who has promised garbage free Bangalore in six months,should also solve water problem facing the city.

  • Dreamz Infra

    The predicted water scarcity can pose to be a future nightmare for Bangalore if not cured on time. Rainwater harvesting seems to be a silver lining concept, which, along with being promoted by social activists, is also being mandated by the authorities for flats in Bangalore. Under scientific supervision,Dreamz Infra Pvt. Ltd. has launched residential apartments for sale with in-built rain water harvesting facilities.
    Follow us on below social media links to get updates
    https://www.facebook.com/DreamzInfra
    https://twitter.com/DreamzGK_infra
    http://www.linkedin.com/company/dreamz-infra-india-pvt-ltd

  • Zeteon Int

    It is important to recognize that water is a scarce resource. Like any other scarce resource, It is essential to conserve water too. Here are some solutions that can help water conservation.
    http://www.zeteoninternational.com

  • Bleak situation indeed. Water counts as the basic fundamental human right. Everyone deserves clean water and food, yet the growing population and the unmanageable political situations have forced people to live like poor beggars, pushed to the limit of using dirty water for drinking and cooking purposes. The authorities really need to take a stand here.

    DbaiG
    Bolee.com

  • tgs water

    Rain Water Harvesting is only Method to save Water shortage crisis More updates can be seen regarding this here

    https://www.facebook.com/tgswaterindia
    http://www.tgswater.in

  • Ramchandra Tulaskar

    Water
    for avoid droughts in less than 10 cm rainfall and anywhere.
    (Dam without river technology )
    a) Drinking water projects

    1) Drinking water for 20 houses. 2) Drinking water for 200
    houses. 3) 10 thousand million liters drinking
    water project. 4) 20 thousand million liters drinking water project

    b) Water projects for agriculture
    1) 50
    thousand liters water project for agriculture. 2) 70 thousand million liters
    water project for agriculture.

  • […] Water Shortage Crisis Looms Large In Bangalore, India [en] von Nickhil Sharma, 26. Juli 2013 […]

  • sidramappa shivashankar dharan

    Water Sustainability for Globe -24 X 7 Water Supply
    By Using Existing Resources

    Sidramappa Shivashanksr Dharane

    SVERI’s College of Engineering Pandharpur,
    Maharashtra,India

    dr.dr.sidramappa@gmail.com

    Mob-919890283390

    Abstract

    24
    x 7 water supplies are possible by using existing resources. The small supply
    of water in the bore wells can be used effectively. The existing pumps can also
    be used with one regulator to adjust the capacity of pump/speed as per the
    supply of water in the bore wells which will maintain the continuity of flow;
    thereby the main principle of getting maximum water from the bore can be
    achieved i. e. Q outlet ≤ Q
    inlet. All the bore wells which are not in use because of their
    small supply of water will also start to function as per their capacities of
    inlet discharge.

    Key words: 24 x7 water supplies, bore
    wells, speed regulator, existing resources

    Introduction

    The whole world is facing the problem of effective
    water supply because of summer season and drought and so many other reasons. In
    rural and urban area there are so many tube wells (bore wells), if we adjust
    the pipe diameter and capacity of pump and introducing one regulatory valve at outlet,
    we can adjust the outlet discharge from the bore well less than or equal to the
    inlet discharge i. e. as per supply of water in the tube wells (bore wells). It
    leads to 24 X 7 water supply in some area and even it is effective in draught.
    Also it is more effective for irrigation just by constructing small water tanks
    or by changing methods of irrigation like sprinkler or drip. By using this
    small principle (outlet discharge less than or equal to inlet discharge ) we
    can make use of existing bore wells (tube wells) which are not in use because
    of their less supply of water and save lot of money of nation and can serve
    nation more effectively.

    By the use of adjusting
    nozzle/regulatory valve (which we are using for vehicle washing) we can adjust
    the yield from the bore wells as per supply, which gives the continuous supply
    of water, as per the supply of water from ground in the tube wells and which
    can be used in any corner of the world. In this case it is not necessary to
    adjust the capacity of pump and diameter of pipe, and the same existing pipe
    and pump can be used.

    India
    is agriculture country and facing the great problem of water for various
    purposes though so many big projects are coming to fulfil the need. Even though
    it is not possible to supply the water in every corner of the country by means
    of big projects only. But if we make of use of existing resources up to its
    optimum use, then it is possible to supply the water effectively in every
    corner of the world. The one of the existing major resource is a bore well/
    tube well. The bore wells which are not in use because of its small supply of
    water can be used effectively by sound technical knowledge. If this small
    supply of water is made available effectively then defiantly 24 x 7 water supplies
    is possible with minimum investments and saves billions of Rs of the nation. In
    India the numbers of bore wells are not functioning effectively because of its
    small supply of water. The supply of water in the bore wells varies because of
    less rainfall, summer, draught etc. this small supply of water can be used by
    designing the capacity of pumps and pipe diameter for minimum discharge and one
    regulatory valve can also be used to maintain the continuity of flow. But
    because of this when the inlet discharge in the bore wells becomes more in
    rainy season we cannot make use of excess water. And if we design the capacity
    of pump for maximum inlet discharge there will be fluctuation of water when the
    inlet supply becomes less in summer and draught and the continuity of flow
    cannot be maintained which leads to less availability of water for use. So to
    make use of optimum water, the capacity of pump and diameter of pipe should be
    such that outlet discharge should be less than or equal to the inlet discharge
    which maintains the continuity of the flow. But here also the inlet discharge
    will not remain constant because of more or less rainfall, Season, droughts
    etc. And also it is not possible to change the pump and pipe diameter as per
    the inlet discharge. But in such case the continuity of flow can be maintained
    by using one regulatory valve which can be operated manually up to some extent.

    The
    new approach to adjust the capacity of pump as per the inlet discharge plays
    very important role for effective water supply and economy. In this case the
    capacity of the pump should be designed for maximum discharge and one regulator
    can be used to adjust the capacity of the pump/speed so that we make use of
    maximum and minimum inlet discharge so that every bore well will start to
    function as per their capacity. This approach of designing new pump along with
    regulator to adjust the capacity of pump/speed leads to effective water supply
    and economy.

    SALIENT
    FEATURES AND CONCLUSIONS

    1.
    Effective 24 x 7 water supply

    2.
    Water can be made available in any corner of the country with minimum
    investment.

    3.
    Existing bore wells which are not in use can be used effectively.

    4.
    Deeper bore wells can be automatically avoided and thereby water table can be
    maintained at higher level.

    5.
    Saves billions of Rs of the nation for major projects.

    6.
    Overall economy and development can be achieved.

    REFERENCES

    1.Dharane S.S. and Patil V. V. “By using Adjusting
    Nozzle or regulatory valve 24×7 Water Supply by using Existing Resources”,
    International Journal of Innovations in Engineering and Technology (IJIET),
    ISSN: 2319 – 1058, Volume 3 Issue 3 February 2014”, pp 134-135.

    2.Dharane Sidramappa
    Shivashaankar and Patil Raobahdur Yashwant, “By Adjustable Capacity of Pump 24
    X 7 Water Supply By Using Existing Resources”, International Journal of Civil
    Engineering

    And Technology (IJCIET), Volume 5, Issue 6, June (2014), pp. 87-88.

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