Deccan Chronicle 22.05.2013
Water crisis: Monsoon, Bangalore’s only hope
Bengaluru: If
you are the praying type, now is the time to appease the gods. There is
enough water in Krishna Raja Sagar to supply the city for about 20
days, thanks to water flowing in from the Hemavathi reservoir. But after
that time, Bengaluru’s citizens are at the mercy of the monsoon.
The
BWSSB is reluctant to admit it, but the worsening water crisis has
forced it to shut down 15 of the 60 pumps at TK Halli, Harohalli and
Tataguni. As a result, this year, it will not be just the north and
eastern parts of Bengaluru that could be hit with the full misery of
water scarcity, even south Bengaluru will suffer as the KRS is fast
drying up.
The Hemavathi, which has
supplied 1 TMC of water to KRS, itself has only 2.98 TMC of water, just
enough to meet the needs of Hassan and its neighbouring towns and
villages. The Harangi reservoir can at best let another 0.44 TMC into
the KRS, but that’s it.
Mysore, too, is staring
at a water crisis, with supply already down to alternate days. The city
corporation has deployed 35 tankers to send water to areas that are
facing the worst shortage.
Pre-monsoon showers
have, thankfully, come as a relief and brought hopes of a good monsoon
ahead. Met director B. Puttanna is predicting an “active” monsoon. That
may be the only hope, for both Bengaluru and Mysore. The weather
forecase says monsoon is likely to set in over the state by the first
week of June. “The monsoons should arrive here between June 5 and 8,”
says M. G. Rajegowda, senior meteorologist and professor, University of
Agricultural Sciences, GKVK.
By Mr. Puttanna’s
estimate, the state is likely to get a 98 per cent long period average
monsoon, and a few more days of pre-monsoon rain in the run up.
On that strength, a senior BWSSB official said the water problem will be solved in the next couple of days.
Nearly 20 pumping stations were shut down recently due to shortage of Cauvery water. The consequence?
Many
residential localities in the city had to make do without water again
on Tuesday. When water supply is down to the minimum, borewells have
dried up, and private suppliers have shot up prices by over 1000
percent, charging around Rs 800 per load of water, the only hope left
for Bengalureans is the monsoon. Team DC reports
The water crisis
of the last fortnight in the city worsened recently after the BWSSB shut
down around 15 of the 60 pumps at the three pumping stations of TK
Halli, Harohalli and Tataguni. And unlike other summers when people of
Bengaluru North and East suffered the most, this year all areas
including the usually better off South Bengaluru, are having a hard time
with the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) reservoir that Bengaluru depends on
for its supply, fast drying up.
The BWSSB, which had promised to
supply adequate water in the weeks leading up to summer, has been
looking on helplessly as the taps have run dry over the last couple of
weeks, leaving people at the mercy of tankers. Those living in areas
where Cauvery water is now supplied once in four days as against every
alternate day, have no choice but to pay as much as the tankers demand
to meet their daily needs .
Says one resident, Mr Krishna Rao, a
manager with the SBI, “The water problem has become terrible over the
last two weeks. The supply has been either erratic or very poor. Filling
the trickle we get from the taps delays all our routine work and
affects our punctuality at work too. The BWSSB and the government must
do something about the water problem as buying tanker water is burning a
deep hole in our pockets.”
The situation is no different in East
and North Bengaluru. Mr Narendra Kumar, a mechanical engineer and
resident of Ramamurthynagar, says they have not got Cauvery water for
the last 10 days.
“We got Cauvery water only during the elections. After that the taps went dry,” he adds
Ask
the BWSSB and it claims the water problem will be solved in the next 48
hours as water from the KRS and Hemavathi reservoirs has started to
reach Bengaluru. “Already, 57 of the 60 pumps have been commissioned to
pump water to Bengaluru. About 850 MLD of water was pumped on Monday as
against the requirement of 1,150 MLD. Only three pumps are left idle.
The situation will improve in the next couple of days,” says a senior
BWSSB official.
