An inconvenient truth: Bangalore's future is in the gutter

Those of you planning to buy property on the outskirts of the city, especially in the newly added areas, better pay heed to the words of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) chief.

Gaurav Gupta, chairman, BWSSB, adviced people to not to succumb to the advertisement blitzkrieg by real estate companies, saying that the BWSSB needs 10 more years to supply Cauvery water and provide underground drainage facilities to these areas.

The BWSSB chairman said that it had become difficult to supply sufficient water to old areas in Bangalore as there was no water available at Hesaraghatta and Tippagondanahalli reservoirs; besides, the BWSSB was already drawing excess water from Cauvery river. "I want to make it clear that if people buy sites on the outskirts and expect the BWSSB to provide UGD facilities and supply Cauvery water, it will not happen. No one should blame the BWSSB, since it has no plan to supply water to such areas for another 10 years,'' said Gaurav Gupta.
V Balasubramanian, former additional chief secretary, put things in perspective, and it makes for a disturbing reading.

Balasubramanian said that with Hesaraghatta gone and Tippagondanahalli drying up, the only reliable water supply to Bangalore was Cauvery, with a gross of 1,410 MLD. But there was no question of drawing more water as Bangalore city was already drawing more water than what has been allocated for the entire rural and urban population in the Cauvery basin,'' said Balasubramanian.

There is no good news either on the borewell or on lake front. Talking about borewells, Balasubramanian said that there were about 312,000 borewells in Bangalore which draw about 300 MLD. The drawing of underground water is 3.7 times more than the recharge from 900 mm, Bangalore’s annual rainfall. This is the reason why the borewells have gone deeper, up to 1,000 feet, he argued. 

Lakes are now nothing more than sewage tanks, Balasubramanian said. Of the original 927 lakes in Bangalore Urban District, according to the revenue records, less than 200 are said to be “live” lakes; and the “live” lakes are only storing city’s sewage, he said.

But the harshest words were reserved for the much-written rain water harvesting. Rainwater harvesting done now for name’s sake covers 44,000 houses out of some 18 lakh properties. It has no meaning, said Balasubramanian. "As only 40 per cent of the area of Bangalore is covered by roofs, for rain water harvesting to be effective, it should be done on a geographical basis covering the entire four basins area of Bangalore as done in Singapore, a city that works. What is done in Bangalore now is only sloganeering,'' he said.

Warning that "history will repeat itself as tragedy", Balasubramanian cited the example of the city of Fatehpur Sikhri, which had to be abandoned by Mughal emperor Akbar due to lack of adequate water supply; and the same fate might befall Bangalore, cautioned Balasubramanian, and half of the city would have to be evacuated due to water scarcity and contaminated water in 10 years if urgent measures are not taken.