To lay dual pipelines to pump recycled water to Bangalore, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has requested the planning agencies in the city to not approve residential and industrial layouts which do not have sub-arterial roads that are at least 60 feet wide.

BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T Venkatraju said, “Recycled water can be used for washing, industrial and other purposes when there is water scarcity. We need two pipelines to supply drinking water and recycled water. We cannot lay dual pipelines along narrow roads. So we have sent a letter to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) requesting it not to approve or form layouts with less than 60-foot-wide roads. We are in the process of sending this letter to other planning agencies as well.”

Venkatraju said the BWSSB had also requested the BDA to allot enough space to set up sewage treatment plant in its every layout. The BWSSB is planning to treat the sewage generated in every area within the same area instead of channel it to the nearest sewage valley and pump the recycled water back to the locality.

“This will prevent the sewage from seeping into water bodies and curb groundwater contamination, besides making it easy to supply recycled water,” Venkatraju said. At present, the BWSSB has the infrastructure to treat around 700 million litres a day (MLD) of sewage in more than 20 sewage treatment plants.

Though the city generates around 800 MLD of sewage every day, the BWSSB is able to treat only around 350 MLD due to breaches in sewer lines.

The BWSSB has already allotted works to lay new sewer lines in the newly added areas and to repair breaches in sewer lines in areas.

The Board sells around 15 MLD recycled water to different parties, including Bangalore International Airport Ltd and Aravind Mills. Rest of it is released into sewage valleys.