The Hindu         23.12.2011

Water a pipedream for 23 city slums, says study

PERENNIAL THIRST:People surveyed in 22 slums said they did not get alternative tanker water supply.— File photo: K. Gopinathan

While much has been said about the drinking water shortage in the city, a study by CIVIC in 23 city slums has revealed that more than 90 per cent of the slum communities are deprived of piped drinking water.

The study — based on the methodology of focus group discussion — was presented at a public hearing on “Water to the Urban Poor in Bagalore: A Fundamental Right?” organised by CIVIC on Thursday.

Poor supply

“Most families surveyed in these slums are dependent on public taps or borewells and have to wait in long queues for hours together to collect a few buckets of water. With this public distribution too being as rare as once in three or four days, some even buy water,” the survey said.

Costly water

While people surveyed in 22 slums said they did not get alternative tanker water supply, most those who did said they spent nearly Rs. 100 a month on the facility.

Most others spent an equal amount on buying water from private suppliers too, the survey said.

That is not all. Most children in seven slums had dropped out of school while a majority went late to school as they had to go looking for water.

Several daily wage labourers were losing out on their earnings as they went late to work after collecting water, according to the survey.

Fundamental right

The public hearing envisaged a discussion on the current status of the fundamental right to water of the urban poor in Bangalore. Several case studies on the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) drinking water supply schemes and their results were presented at the hearing.

Asserting that he was aware of the problems, BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkataraju said there was an influential water mafia in several areas. “We can provide piped supply only if people pay for metered connections. But even in places where we supply free water, vested interests are collecting money from residents. We are tracking down such illegal activities and will initiate action against the perpetrators,” he said.

The former adviser to Karnataka Governor S. Krishna Kumar also spoke. A booklet, Jeeva Jala was released.