Water Woes in Bengaluru Shattering the Peaceful Life of Bengalureans

 

Interference of Government

According to one of the senior official of Water Resources Department, “We are trying to coordinate with various departments to enforce these rules and suggestions from the policy. However, many of them could not be implemented completely on ground owing to various constraints. Now that the enforcement has gained momentum, we should keep it going”.

Ahead of Bengaluru election, the political scenario is already warm, the anger and agitation regarding water scarcity has taken this to another level. Political rallies protestations have multiplied and made the situation more intense. DK Shivakumar who is also the nodal minister for Bengaluru promised that, Government will do the needful steps at the earliest. He has already visited the affected areas and planned to use milk tankers to supply water in those areas.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) as well as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, responsible for water supply are under tremendous pressure because of the situation. They have informed that, Krishnaraja Sagar dam which is responsible for supplying water in Bengaluru, is not retaining required amount of water because of the approaching summer.

Under the Sections 33 and 34 of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Act 1964, The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has declared few regulations on using the water to take a control over the usage of water. According to the declaration, potable water cannot be used in gardening, cleaning vehicles, construction of buildings, for decorating purpose like in fountains, swimming pools should be closed till the further orders.

Malls and cinema halls were instructed to use water only for drinking. The notice says, “In case of violation of prohibitory order, a fine of Rs.5,000 will be applicable for the first time offence and recurrence of this violation will result in a fine of Rs.5,000 with an additional penalty of Rs.500 per day”.

Preventive Steps-

By Government

Siddaramaiah has ordered the local administration to take control over the private borewells against the proper monetary agreements. He assured saying that, Rs.75 crores were allocated for drilling up new borewells with the permission of Deputy Commissioners and Zilla Panchayat’s chief executive officers. An amount of Rs.631 crore were divided among 33.25 lakh farmers where each of them received Rs.2,000 as instant relief amount.

By Private Entities

Renowned and big gated communities developed by trailblazing builders of Bengaluru like Sobha, Prestige, and Brigade have already installed a separate department for sewage treatment plant (STP), so that, they can utilize the treated water for in-house usages. According to the estamation of Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), there are around 3,500 communities in and around the silicon valley of India. After the installation of STPs in residential communities nearly 720 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of water is being treated every single day.

The Vice-President of BAF said, “After using treated water for flushing and gardening purposes within the communities, our estimates suggest that at least 300 MLD of water is being wasted, and can now be used effectively”.

Last Note

Regulations and banning will not alone suffice this deadly crisis, unless we, the commoners co-operate with this. The citizen of Bengaluru should value the water as the most precious resource. We have to take a call now and need to start using single drop of water very judiciously. We need to merge technologies and different mechanisms to treat water for recycling. According to the weather report- the tech hub Bengaluru will lose 14.3 sq km more of green spaces by 2038, if the pace of urbanization continues like this.

We need to aware more people about the dreadful effects of water crisis so that, the regulations of the Govt. becomes immensely successful. These little steps from our end would make permanent changes for the betterment of the vast population. Siddaramaiah declared that the Govt. is planning to replenish the lakes which are already dried up and trying to fill it with treated water. The CM also formed special expert committees to take care of such emergency situations.