By dipping too much, City will reach tipping point

Thirsty city: Over exploitation of groundwater may lead to crisis in future

He makes two quick calls, one to berate the water distributor he has already paid, and the other requesting Murthy, another distributor, to bring some cans of water.

Within minutes, Murthy arrives with packaged water cans, and Jha slakes his thirst.

Around the same time, in a narrow lane of Garudacharpalya, Saddiq rushes with his push cart filled with empty pots towards a nearby tap.

Water crisis is slowly but surely taking a form like never before in the City. However, both Maheshwari Nagar and Garudacharpalya in Mahadevpura Assembly constituency seem to be in a much better situation compared to many other parts of Bangalore.

Creation of a tank at Chikkanna Layout by the older generation in the vicinity of Maheshwari Nagar and Garudacharpalya has now come to the rescue of its residents.

Rampant use

However, 60-year-old Sreenivasappa warns that it is no time to relax. “Earlier, the City received heavy rains... Now, with irregular and low rainfall, there has been an increased dependency on groundwater. Rapid depletion of the groundwater table, owing to reckless tapping, has aggravated water crisis,” he says.

Pai Layout, Singenahalli and other areas are coughing up Rs 25 to Rs 35 for a 25-litre can of water and Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 as charges per tank.

Water distributor Murthy says his firm Swatcha Aqua supplies at least 300 cans every day in and around Mahadevpura. The source of the water he supplies is a borewell in Shivaganaga Layout.

Govind, another water agent, says he procures water from a borewell sunk by his brother at his friend’s land in Kadbisnahalli.

He not only supplies water to residents and petty shops in and around Mahadevpura, but also provides water to several companies in the ITPB Park and big establishments in and around Whitefield, Marathahalli and K R Puram.

However, the concerned residents in the area are worried about water enterprises run by Murthy and Govind, as it would tantamount to over-exploiting groundwater for commercial purpose. Also, there are many agencies in the vicinity who distribute water through tankers.

A majority of the households depend on borewells to meet their water requirement, a trend which will prove costly to the City, observed some residents of Mahadevpura.