Urban News

The Deccan Chronicle  28.10.2010

Oct. 27: Going by the way water leaks on to the roads from BWSSB pipelines or is wasted in homes that let their taps run when not required, it would appear that Bengaluru has water to throw away. But the opposite is true. Only about 45 per cent of the city receives BWSSB water as the 900 million litres per day (MLD)that it supplies is inadequate to meet the needs of all Bengalureans. But instead of conserving water, the BWSSB doesn't seem to know where as much as 408 MLD of the water it supplies goes and categorises it as ‘unaccounted for.’ The water is mainly lost due to leaks in the old, narrow and corroded pipelines of the city, unauthorised connections and misuse of public taps.

“The huge wastage of water is due to lack of adequate investment in replacement of pipelines and expert advice on how to deal with it,” says water management expert S. Vishwanath, who feels that a team of experts must be deployed over the entire city to check for leaks on a regular basis.

While the city has a 5975km long pipeline network taking water to 6.23 lakh connections, most of the pipes are over a 100 years old , and are either corroded or too narrow to handle the volume of water now supplied. This is not altogether surprising considering that Bengaluru's first piped water supply system dates back to 1896 when water was brought to the city from a dam built across the river Arkavathy at Hesaraghatta.

The supply was increased in stages to 135 MLD with the construction of a dam at TG Halli, downstream of Hesaraghatta. The BWSSB itself was formed in 1964 and water from the Cauvery river was first brought to the city in 1974. While Bengaluru's supply increased to 270, 540 and 810 MLD in 1982, 1993 and 2002 respectively, its pipelines remained as old as ever.

Although they are supposed to be replaced every 30 to 50 years, pipelines in the city have not been overhauled unless they have sprung a major leak or have been in need of other significant repair. It has been only three years since the BWSSB began providing for systematic replacement of pipelines in its annual budget and has so far tackled pipes over a distance of 300 kms.

Realising that a lot more needs to be done it has now come up with a ` 1100 crore project to cut down the loss of water in the city to 15 to 16 per cent over the next three years, in keeping with international standards. A top BWSSB official explains that under the project the board will replace pipelines wherever more than 14 per cent of water is wasted through leaks.

He points out that the board is taking legal action against those stealing water, and recently lodged 80 criminal cases against people with unauthorised connections.

Finding that public taps in slums in the BBMP core area are also responsible for some of the wastage, the BWSSB has taken up a Rs 42 crore project to provide free water service connections to households in recognised slums in the hope that this will help it fight the wastage.