A dry tale of India’s Silicon Valley: The water crisis in Bengaluru

According to Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, of 13,900 public borewells in the city, 6,900 have gone dry. Besides that there are an estimated three lakh borewells used for residential and commercial purposes. Most of the IT corridors which were dependent on borewell water are going through tough times. While companies have initiated many water conservation and minimal usage plans, their employees living in apartments, houses and paying guest facilities have borne the brunt.

The 18km IT corridor between Silk Board and KR Puram employs close to 15 lakh employees in over 30 tech parks. Many of these areas do not have Cauvery water supply and many high-rise apartments are located in the same vicinity, making it hard to meet the water demand. Water purification plants across the city are now either shut or witnessing long queues.

On Thursday, Bengaluru reported 36 degrees Celsius with no hint of any showers. One of the major water sources is the KRS dam, with a full capacity of 49,452 million cubic feet. On Thursday, the storage capacity stood at 13,807 million cubic feet. Last year on the same day, it was 21,764 million cubic feet. (Full depth: 124.8 ft, present level: 86.22 ft, last year on same day: 98.64 ft).

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board has taken a slew of measures and restrictions to prevent misuse of water. These include banning the use of potable water for washing vehicles and gardening, installing flow restrictors or aerators at commercial establishments, taking over all the water tankers and making permission mandatory for digging borewells.

Christopher L, who works for a technology company in Indiranagar, is contemplating moving back to his hometown, Shillong, Meghalaya, because of the water crisis at his house in SG Palya, off Hosur Road. “Although we have the flexibility to work from home, I am anticipating a dire situation because of the water shortage in the coming days. Currently, the source of water for our house is groundwater. However, the water level is dipping gradually. We might run out of water soon and there is no likelihood of rainfall that will give us any respite,” he said.

“As a result, I am planning to request my reporting manager to allow me to work from my hometown, Shillong, for the time being. Calling water tankers is an option but is not sustainable or feasible. Depending on water tankers for once is okay, but we cannot afford to do so every other week in the long run,” he added.

Memes saying that Bengaluru is a city best for work-from-home as the roads flood when it rains and there is no water in summer have spread online. Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeev recently gave an open invitation to IT companies in Bengaluru. He said, “We read reports on the water crisis in Bengaluru. We have written to the IT companies offering them all facilities as well as plenty of water. We have 44 rivers, big and small and water is not an issue at all.”

Office-bearers of the Outer Ring Road Companies Association held a meeting with V Ram Prasath Manohar, chairman of the water supply board, on Thursday. He assured the association that the water woes would be addressed.

Manas Das, president of the association, told The Indian Express, “We were given a deep understanding about the water supply of Bengaluru and according to the chairman there is no crisis. We were given the assurance that there is enough water till it rains. We were also informed about the usage of treated water and the storage at the source.”

“We have taken all needed measures to safeguard water and encourage employees to save water too. However, companies are also concerned. We do not want this to repeat and if something like this repeats, some tough calls would be taken by companies,” he added.

The association represents all major IT and banking companies on the Outer Ring Road stretch. According to the association, the IT companies on Outer Ring Road generate a revenue of $22 billion per annum. In August last year, following floods on ORR, the association expressed concern over the lack of infrastructure and said the companies had incurred a loss of Rs 225 crore.

TV Mohandas Pai, chairperson of Aarin Capital Partners, who has been vocal about the city’s civic issues, is of the opinion that companies should encourage work-from-home for employees till the situation becomes normal.

“If some of the IT employees go back to their hometown, the burden of water supply in the city may reduce by a good number. There is a need for people’s movement to protect/revive waterbodies, use recycled waters, implement rain water harvesting and recharge borewells,” he said.

Criticising the government decision to take over water tankers, Pai said it was leading to corruption and harassment of the public and nothing else. “The government taking over water tankers was an arbitrary action. If an apartment resident, or an individual or a company needs water, they will hire a tanker and buy it whenever they need. Imposing fines or taking control of water tankers is not going to solve any problem in the city. IT companies have raised concern over the same too,” he added.

Pai also said that if the government did not instil confidence, the IT firms might opt to move out. “It is high time the government started a confidence-building exercise and ensured this won’t repeat. If there is no long-term solution, it is going to make an impact on the IT industry for sure,” he said.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Manohar explained that the implementation of Cauvery stage 5 project was the only way forward for the 110 villages added to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike after 2008 delimitation.

According to the water supply board, it is providing only 41,000 water connections to these villages including Varthur, Bellandur, Marathahalli, while the civic body is managing the rest through borewells. However, under Cauvery stage 5 project, the board will ensure an additional 775 MLD of water supply to the 110 newly added villages.

Allaying fears about tech companies moving out of Bengaluru, Manohar said, “The possibility of tech companies shifting base to other cities does not even arise. The government is fully ensuring that the tech corridor is met with all the demands in terms of water and other infrastructure, in order to attract more investment. We need not engage in fear-mongering.”

Manohar also said the number of complaints of water distress had reduced from 1,000 to 400 per day. “This is because of the timely interventions that the board has made over the last few weeks. We have minimised the use of potable water for construction activities, swimming pools, entertainment and car washing among other non-drinking purposes. This has improved the supply of water in Bengaluru by 20 MLD,” he said.

The board chief also said that water leakage in Bengaluru’s core zone is around 20-26 per cent, owing to old pipelines that break down under the weight of vehicles. For non-core areas, the leakage rate is about 10-15 per cent and most of the supply here is non-revenue water.