First floods, now dry days: Decoding tech hub Bengaluru’s water woes

Published in Moneycontrol

Feb 29, 2024

Image by Rajesh Balouria from Pixabay.

India’s Silicon Valley is grappling with one of its worst water crises even before the peak of summer. Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the agency that provides drinking water to the tech capital, says the situation is manageable in core areas but critical in the city’s outer areas, especially near tech corridors where there is no piped supply of water from the Cauvery river.

As the groundwater table depletes and borewells run dry, apartment complexes, slum settlements, and commercial establishments in the 110 villages added to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in 2008 are the worst affected. Despite apartment complexes being willing to pay, private tankers claim they are unable to cope with the demand. The cost of private tanker water, usually Rs 400-600, has now risen to Rs 800-2,000 for a 12,000-litre tanker.

 

Acknowledgements

Rashmi Kulranjan, Shashank Palur and Muhil Nesi’s Urban Water Balance Report cited by Christin Mathew Philip for Moneycontrol.

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