Karnataka govt pegs water shortage in Bengaluru at 500 MLD, around a fifth of the demand
The current requirement for drinking water and industries in Bengaluru is 2,600 million litres per day, according to CM Siddaramaiah.
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The government will form an expert committee to ensure that there is no shortage of water in the future, the chief minister said. (X/@siddaramaiah)Bengaluru is facing a shortage of 500 million litres per day (MLD), Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said after reviewing water supply in the city at a meeting on Monday.
The current requirement for drinking water and industries in Bengaluru is 2,600 MLD, of which 1,450 MLD is being pumped from the Cauvery river, he said, adding that around 650 MLD was available from borewells, leading to a shortage of 500 MLD water in the city. Necessary measures have been put in place to overcome this shortage, he said.
“We have enough storage of drinking water in the Cauveri and Kabini. Sufficient water is available till the end of June. There is 11.02 TMC water storage in KRS (Krishna Raja Sagara) and 9.02 TMC in Kabini,” Siddaramaiah said.
Bengaluru will receive an additional supply of 775 MLD water after the completion of Cauvery Phase 5 work by the end of June. It will be supplied to the 110 villages added a few years ago to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike limits. Half of these villages are facing water shortages.
Another reason for the water shortage in Bengaluru is that 6,900 of the 14,000 government borewells have gone dry.
The government will form an expert committee to ensure that there is no shortage of water in the future, the chief minister said. The BBMP and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board will be held responsible for any water shortage, he added.
Following the exercise carried out by the government to register water tankers, Siddaramaiah said that around 1,700 water tankers were available. Water from private borewells, including those of malls, are supplied to affected areas of the state capital. The government is also drilling borewells at 313 places in the city. Measures are also being taken to revive 1,200 borewells, he said.
Bengaluru is facing a water crisis due to drought conditions that have caused a dip in reservoir levels across the state. Low recharge of groundwater due to deficient rainfall has caused several borewells to fail in the first month of summer.
The government also decided to fill up 14 major lakes in Bengaluru that have dried up. Siddaramaiah said that instructions were issued to fill the lakes along the lines of the exercise taken up in the neighbouring Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, using treated water from the Koramangala-Challaghatta valley. This is expected to recharge borewells with groundwater.
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