The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has requested
the Director of the Mines and Geology Department to provide details of
areas where the groundwater is contaminated in the city.

BWSSB
Engineer-in-chief T Venkatraju said, “The high court has directed us to
provide clean drinking water through public taps to areas where the
drinking water is contaminated. We have written a letter to the Director
of the Mines and Geology Department seeking details. We will prepare an
action plan as soon as we get the details.”

According to sources,
the BWSSB is already supplying Cauvery water to all the areas where the
contamination levels are stated to be high in a report submitted to the
high court by a private agency, as these areas fall in the core area of
the city. It is preparing a report on supplying water through public
taps to areas where the groundwater is contaminated in the six municipal
corporations and one town municipal corporation limits that were added
to the city limits, after obtaining details from the Mines and Geology
Department.

As the BWSSB is not supplying drinking water to the
110 villages that were added to the city, it is likely to request the
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to supply clean drinking water
to them.

The court had taken suo motu cognizance of the high
contamination levels in groundwater in different parts of the city and
had directed the BWSSB to provide clean drinking water to areas where
the groundwater is contaminated. The court had also directed the BWSSB
to submit a report about the steps initiated by it to provide clean
drinking water to these areas, when the case comes up for hearing on
August 8.