Cauvery passes through City South, but passes it by

Take the case of Bhuvaneshwari Nagar near Uttarahalli. Its location near the Subramanyapura Lake could not prevent the borewells in the area from drying up totally.
"The borewells have never dried up here in the past. Even the lake is not supporting us this time," said Sharadamma, who has been living in the area for the past two decades.

For almost a year now, the Subramanyapura Lake is choked with weeds to an extent that people are not aware of the existence of water beneath it. The once pristine lake was never in such a poor state but thanks to the BWSSB, which has turned a Nelson's eye to the sewage let into the lake directly by the builders of multi-storey apartments near the waterbody. The erstwhile panchayat had sunk two borewells near the lake but both of them have dried up, the residents said.

“Though we get water every day it is supplied only for an hour and is not sufficient to meet the requirement. There have been times when the water was not supplied for three to four days," said Nanjunda, a resident of Bhuvaneshwari Nagar.

Situation is bad in Sai Nagar. Local corporator Ramesh Raju admits that water shortage is severe in the area. At least two tankers have been roped in to supply water to Uttarahalli ward and half of the total trips the tankers make are to residents of Sai Nagar. "It's a newly added area to the BBMP and we are yet to upgrade facilities there,"says Raju. The gravity of the water crisis in Vasanthapura slum on the hilltop could be gauged from the fact that water is supplied here once two or three days. "It's our fate. Every year we confront the same problem and are forced to go from door to door in search of water. Many times we are treated like dogs and driven away from houses where we go to fetch just two to three pots of water," said Rajendra, a resident.

The situation is no different in Konanakunte Cross and Yelchenahalli, the other two wards of the Bangalore South constituency. Yelchenahalli corporator Manjunath said groundwater in his ward had drastically depleted drying up several borewells.

"Most of the people in our ward are dependent on tankers. Three tankers have been deployed and we are working day in and day out to supply water," Manjunath said.

Water once in 3 days for B’lore rural

Residents in Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Vijayapura, Hoskote and Nelamangala town limits will get water once every three days, Bangalore Rural district in charge minister B N Bache Gowda has said.

Addressing the media after the progress review meeting, Gowda said on Monday that the water table in the district had plummeted to 1,200 feet resulting in acute shortage of drinking water.

He said that water was being supplied through tankers to 250 villages coming under the jurisdiction of 98 gram panchayats, - 62 villages in Hoskote, 72 in Devanahalli, 80 in Doddaballapur, and 36 villages in Nelamangala. The minister said it has also been decided to sink borewells at a cost of Rs six crore to tide over the crisis.

Twenty five lakes coming under the Minor Irrigation department and 80 lakes under gram panchayats would be rejuvenated at a cost of Rs 6.13 crore and Rs 12.84 crore
respectively.