Explained: Bengaluru’s Water Crisis Amid Floods and the Way Forward

Despite receiving excessive rainfall, parts of Bengaluru is reeling under water crisis due to mismanagement.

The ‘Silicon Valley of India’ – Bengaluru – suffered one of its worst floods when the city received about 131.6 mm rain, in a span of 24 hours, on 5 September, making it the day that received the second highest rainfall in September in 34 years. 

While most of the areas in Bengaluru East were flooded and water stagnation was reported at low-lying areas, drinking water supply for over 50 areas in the city too was stopped as a pumping station in Mandya’s TK Halli was flooded due to heavy rain. 

One wonders, how a city witnessing highest rainfall for the month of September can suffer a water crisis. Experts suggest the cause of this perennial woe is mismanagement and unequal distribution of water among residents.

Whose Water Is It Anyway?

According to a survey carried out by Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB), the city faced a shortfall of 650 million litres per day (MLD) in 2021 and this is likely to go up by 1,450 MLD by 2031. Adding to this, the city’s population has also increased threefold in just 10 years due to which the peripheral rural settlements were converted to urban high-tech parks. 

Today, only around 50 percent of Bengaluru gets its drinking water from Cauvery river, from which 18 thousand million cubic feet of water is being pumped to the city from Torekadinahalli. 

Ashwin Chandra Kumar, a resident living in Sadashiva Nagar, tells The Quint, “We are really fortunate that that our locality gets 24x7 water supply. We keep hearing that there is water crisis in Bengaluru, but never really have faced any shortage till today.” 

Bengaluru’s prime localities like Sadashiva Nagar, Indira Nagar, Malleshwaram, Vasantnagar, Shankarpuram, Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Basavaagudi, Banashankari, and other areas have access to Cauvery water throughout the day. Even when the TK Halli pump station was flooded, the BWSSB was quick to ensure water supply got restored within 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, areas such as Muneshwara Nagar, DJ Halli, KG Halli, Nagawara, Banaswadi, Tannery Road, Kushalnagara, Jeevanbhima Nagar, Yelahanka, BHEL, Bagaluru, Kalyan Nagar, Cox Town, KR Puram, Hoodi, Bellandur, and Varthur continued to suffer due to lack of drinking water supply. 

"We get sufficient rainfall, and in fact this year we have recorded over 120 mm of rainfall. But the free fresh water that the city receives goes into the drain, gets contaminated, mixes with lakes and eventually spoils the ground water as well. We are in a cycle of contamination.”

Leo Saldanha, Environmentalist

Bengaluru, which is built 3,000 feet above sea level in an arid zone, has a population of over 1.3 crore. While 50 percent of the population depends on Cauvery water, the other 50 percent completely depends on ground water. The cost of bringing Cauvery water to Bengaluru is around Rs 500-600 crore (electricity cost alone), as water needs to be pumped uphill to reach the sprawling city. 

Therefore, the BWSSB is accused of not adequately planning to cater to Bengaluru's water requirements, and addressing only issues pertaining to areas that get Cauvery water.

Bengaluru’s Bane: Mismanagement and Inequality in Water Consumption

According to BWSSB reports, only 1.7 lakh private residential properties in Bengaluru have rainwater harvesting pits. While many of the upper-middle class residents of Bengaluru are reluctant to spend money on Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) Systems, the economically weaker sections cannot afford to build one without government subsidy. 

“In 1970s, Bengaluru moved away from harvesting water in open wells and decided to bring Cauvery water. But Cauvery can never fulfil the growing demand of Bengaluru. When the IT sector boomed, the government never really considered (lack of) water as a limitation. Now, we are totally in this mess,” says Saldanha.

As of now, Bengaluru is not facing a “water crisis” per se, but is facing mismanagement and financial resources crunch. Though Bengaluru is getting abundant rainfall, the government is not able to invest enough to get water to everybody across the city. 

Water expert S Vishwanath sees water as a political issue. In an interaction with The Quint, he highlighted how the water crisis in Bengaluru is not a resource-based concern but an issue emerging out of poor policy implementation.

“The challenge is how can elections (which come) once in five years align itself with 30-40-year water plan. This is the primary challenge for water management. We need corrective measures."

S Vishwanath, Water Expert

The city also generates around 1,440 MLD of sewage, which gets treated in 24 different plants across the city. However, the experts say that the excess water that the city receives as rainfall either gets mixed with sewage water or is wasted without a proper mechanism to hold the water.

The wastewater from low lying areas have previously been reported to flow directly into the lakes and ultimately the Vrishabhavathi and the Dakshina Pinakini Rivers, making them unusable due to severe contamination.

According to urban expert Ashwin Mahesh, one of the primary reasons for water crisis in Bengaluru is also the lack of proper drain management. 

“The drains must be next to the road, and the footpath should be next to the property. But in most roads in Bengaluru, we have the opposite. Another issue is the design of the drains system, which must be cylindrical and not rectangular boxes which make it difficult for the water to flow."

The Way Forward for Bengaluru's Water Consumption

According to Saldanha and Vishwanath, the way forward for Bengaluru to save water is by ensuring quick and better design of storm water drains and effective implementation of water policy.

"Climate change is already upon on us. We are witnessing intense rainfall, and we must learn how to manage these rainfalls," says water expert and architect S Vishwanath.

As of now, the 126 major lakes in Bengaluru are full, shallow aquifers are also charged with rising water from incessant rainfall. But there is a limit to which water can be held. In order to do so, the government needs better planning of through rainwater harvesting.

Saldanha gives a three-fold approach to solve water issues in Bengaluru.

• First, he insists that all structures in Bengaluru must harvest rain. The government must also ensure in giving subsidy to those families which can't afford to build one now.

• Second, the existing lakes, which are fed with untreated sewage, must be immediately rejuvenated, and all rajakaluves should be converted into living streams so as to keep the ground water usable.

• And lastly, the major section of the city's population must cut down on air conditioning which turns 60 percent of water it uses into waste, and move away from reverse osmosis technology, wherein the waste water is proven to be toxic for existing biodiversity in the city.