Cautioning that a rapidly growing Bengaluru with a severe shortage of potable water would go the Chennai way sooner, experts and activists on Thursday urged the state government to adopt the 3Rs principle — Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Listing out the grey areas that result in alarming levels of water pilferage, the group led by noted freedom fighter H S Doreswamy demanded the government to act immediately.
Pointing out that mega water projects like Yettinahole and plans to draw water from the Linganamakki Reservoir would eventually fail, they urged the government to make use of the bounteous rains Bengaluru receives annually.
“Bengaluru located at about 3,500 feet has no dedicated water source. We have already depleted the Dakshina Pinakini and Vrishabhavati catchments. Now, the only ray of hope is the rain and by storing rainwater we need to recharge the plummeting groundwater levels,” Doreswamy explained.
Suresh N R of United Bengaluru stated even though the BWSSB is catering to the water requirements of the city, it is only meeting 45 to 50 per cent of the requirement. “Unscientific and improper plumbing network has resulted in large scale water pilferage. While the BWSSB is already supplying 1.4 billion litres of water, it is still short of 800 million litres,” he revealed.
Hinting that a change in the mindset of the people in daily water use could bring down usage by 25 to 30 per cent, Doreswamy said: “Had people adopted modern plumbing techniques for bathrooms, toilets, gardening and other purposes, the water usage will considerably come down by 25 to 30 per cent.
“The government is going miles to get water to Bengaluru. But it has failed to understand that even those areas have seen a drastic fall in rainfall. Rather than creating a regional imbalance, the government must go in for sustainable ways to cater to the demand.”