Deccan Chronicle      27.05.2010

May 26: The BWSSB was beseiged by panic calls from people wanting to know if they had more time to install rain water harvesting structures in their homes on Wednesday, a day ahead of the May 27 deadline as they had received no official word on an extension.

Phones at the BWSSB helpdesk at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology rang non-stop as most people were afraid of losing their water and sanitary connections for not having made arrangements for RWH as required. Most were relieved when told that they would not invite action as the BWSSB had only three days ago written to the government to amend the law for extending the deadline given.

“We have written to the government to amend the law and until further orders, we will not take any stringent action against those who have not made provision for RWH. In the meanwhile we will intensify our awareness programmes to make people understand that rain water harvesting is a must for the city,” a BWSSB officer said.

RWH became mandatory for buildings on 60/40 sites and for new houses on 30x40 sites under the BWSSB (amendment) Act 2009, which came into effect on August 27 the same year. The new law gave a nine month deadline for the buildings to fall in line. Although the BWSSB issued three rounds of notices and held several awareness programmes, 30,000 residents with BWSSB connections have not yet made provision for rain water harvesting.

The water board says there is no alternative to rain water harvesting as Bengaluru will not have adequate water even after the completion of Cauvery stage 4 phase 2 which wil add another 500mld to its supply by 2011-12. With the city's population having grown, it will still be short of 400mld, it explains.