Bangalore: The
areas of Bangalore that are yet to be covered by the BWSSB can hope to
get water from the new Stage V of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme. Chief
Minister Sid­daramaiah mentioned about the proposed Cauvery Stage V
during the assembly session at Belgaum. He said this during a discussion
on a report submitted by an expert committee in this regard in October.

There
are 110 villages that are now part of BBMP and require 500 MLD water
and they would be most likely get water from the proposed Cauvery V
project. Some of the erstwhile CMC and TMC areas that have now been
merged with the BBMP and are not served by Cauvery Stage IV Phase II
will also come under Cauvery V.

Bangalore has exhausted its
current share of Cauvery water allocation with the last project, Cauvery
Stage IV Phase II. For a new project, the city would need a fresh
allocation from Cauvery waters. Therefore, the mention of a new Cauvery
project indicates that the state government is considering the BWSSB’s
long pending demand of allocating some more water to them to serve new
areas.

The erstwhile CMC/TMC areas were to be served under the
Cauvery Stage IV Phase II, but the available water is not enough to
serve the core areas and newly added areas for more than two years.
According
to a submission made by the BWSSB to the High Court of Karnataka
earlier this year, the BWSSB needs at least 10 TMC of water to be able
to supply water to 110 villages.

This information has been
submitted in response to a direction from the High Court that the civic
authorities in Bangalore should ensure water to these areas. The
submission by the BWSSB is yet another attempt to push their request,
pending before the state government, to allocate extra water to
Bangalore.

The BWSSB has written to the state government stating
its requirement of additional 10 TMC of Cauvery water for Bangalore
city. This 10 TMC is out of the 17.64 TMC of water that is Karnataka’s
share and is not allocated for any purpose as yet.

Bangalore needs
additional 8.19 TMC of water to meet its demands till the year
2021. This proposal is based on a recommendation of the Thyagaraja
Committee which was tasked with finding alternative sources of water for
the city, and which recommends drawing more water (up to 15 TMC out of
17.64 TMC) from the Cauvery. The 17.64 TMC of unallocated water in
Karnataka’s share is meant to take care of any future use and can be
decided by the state considering its priority.

An extra share in
Cauvery water seems like the only option for the BWSSB to serve the 110
villages as the BWSSB-BBMP plan of making available water from 599
borewells that exist in these areas did not work out. Tests showed that
the water from the borewells was contaminated. The state government too
has been pushing the Union government to revise its share in Cauvery
waters.