(courtesy  New India Abroad)

By Mehak Luthra

In Bengaluru city, India (formerly Bangalore), thousands of residents are chasing water tankers, reducing shower frequency, and occasionally missing work to store enough water to cope with a severe water crisis.

Bengaluru's population of 15 million requires a minimum of two billion liters of water daily, with over 70 percent of this supply sourced from the Cauvery River. Originating in Karnataka state, where Bengaluru is the capital, the Cauvery River has been embroiled in a water-sharing dispute with neighboring Tamil Nadu for over a century.

The remaining 600 million liters are sourced from groundwater extracted via borewells and distributed through tankers, particularly vital for residents in the city's peripheral areas. However, a deficient monsoon last year has significantly depleted groundwater levels, necessitating deeper borewell drilling to access water. Consequently, there's currently a daily deficit of 200 million litres in the water supply.

In response to the depleted groundwater levels caused by a weak monsoon last year, officials have implemented various measures. These include regulating tanker prices and imposing fines on individuals who use drinking water for non-essential purposes such as gardening and washing vehicles. However, some conservation experts have criticized these measures, questioning the feasibility of effectively monitoring and enforcing such regulations at the household level.

Infotech commentator Anand Parthasarathy, who has been a resident of Bangalore for 2 decades, spoke to NIA on the matter. “There is an apocryphal story about SM Krishna, Karnataka state chief minister at the turn of the century (1999-2004) when Bangalore’s reputation as an Indian Silicon Valley took off. He is said to have told his senior bureaucrats to let the IT companies both Indian and MNC do their thing without throwing regulatory obstacles.  “If you can’t help then, at least don’t hinder them” was a phrase attributed to Krishna,” Parthasarathy said.

“It worked well enough till most subsequent governments failed palpably in the only areas where high tech industry couldn’t do it themselves: infrastructure. Transportation remained a major obstacle for most companies who built islands of high-tech excellence with pathetic connectivity and perpetual log jams. Things have eased a bit after some extensions of the city metro rail system – notably the Purple Line linked dozens of IT companies in the eastern region around Whitefield,” he added.

Parthasarathy highlighted that the water scarcity issue has become a significant challenge for Bangalore's tech sector, which is usually adept at handling crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the pandemic, where remote work was a viable solution, the water shortage affects both homes and offices, making it a more complex issue to address, he said. He emphasized that no immediate solutions are available, and the situation may worsen in the coming weeks until the arrival of the monsoon in June, which is expected to replenish lakes and the water table.

Local businessman Jaspreet Singh, a resident of Bengaluru for 4 decades, identified rampant non-planned growth of the city, and encroachment of water bodies as the primary causes of the water crisis.

“The government’s steps like banning the use of water for non-essential purposes such as car washing and gardening, rationing usage, providing water through tankers for affected areas, and educating the general public on the crisis and usage are a good first step however, many industries which depend on water are affected and productivity has decreased significantly,” he told NIA. “?Lack of civic responsibility like not having rainwater harvesting, gross misuse and wastage, have also contributed to this crisis,” he added.

Singh also emphasized that the longevity of the water crisis depends on the outcome of the upcoming monsoon. “The measures taken by the government are merely emergency steps to ration out the existing water supply. It should ensure that systems are in place to increase the groundwater level once monsoon hits,” he said.

The tech hub is home to many startups and MNCs such as Walmart, Infosys and Wipro. 

Ritesh Mathur, founder of an AI startup, believes that this crisis has affected the image of the Silicon Valley of India globally. “Besides the struggle to contain, distribute, and utilize water more effectively, in my opinion, this has affected business sentiment and the image of the Silicon Valley of India globally,” he said to NIA. “Small and medium businesses will be more affected because of limited resources to pay more for basic necessities like water to run their day-to-day operations. This will eventually affect their economic revenue and also may lead to malpractices in hygiene and safety.”

Highlighting the recurring nature of this issue Mathur said, The water crisis is not something that happened overnight. It is an ongoing issue that has occurred because neither has consecutive governments nor the civic society created forward-looking action plans to identify, create remedies, and monitor progress against these action plans.” He also added that rapid urbanization is a reality that rests on the shoulders of economic growth and is not new, what could have been done is learn quickly from cities around the world that faced such issues in the past and tailor solutions proactively to fit our socio-economic fabric.

Speaking on the measures implemented by the Karnataka government he said, “Any measure taken now is a knee-jerk reaction that does not have long-term implications. The steps taken now are to bring the noise down and not to solve for the long term.”