JOIN USHow will the City cope when the BWSSB cuts off the water supply?It’s not as though Bangalore doesn’t have enough of a problem with water; and the BWSSB’s announcement, voicing their intention to cut off water supply to parts of the City due to maintenance work going on at the Cauvery Stage IV, Phase I, has done nothing to alleviate these grievances.
Their initial decision aroused such a furore that the board hastened to mellow the inconvenience, by lessening the duration of the dry spell and insisting that no tap would run dry for more than 18 hours. However, the fact that the BWSSB remains unable to detail the exact areas which will not receive water — and the duration of the cut — has irked Bangaloreans no end. Metrolife speaks to a few to find out how they plan to cope with dry faucets.
Mary Roopashree, a professor of English at St Anne’s College, believes that the BWSSB’s announcement is nothing more than an addition to an already extensive list on water-related woes she faces. She lives near Wilson Garden and describes the water situation there as being a near nightmare.
“Even earlier, we never received water properly. Every two days or so, we have to call in a tanker. This works out to be quite expensive — depending on the dealer, a tanker can cost anything between Rs 550 and Rs 650 for a thousand litres. And now with the BWSSB’s announcement, I expect the prices to shoot up further,” she laments.
Mary isn’t the only one predicting turmoil during the supply cut. Archana, a software engineer, suggests that the lack of water coupled with the BWSSB’s ambiguity regarding timings can create absolute chaos in the City.
“I live near Chandra Layout and our situation is terrible. The fact that the BWSSB isn’t being precise about timings is an added hassle. Besides, in certain areas, they plan to supply water only in the middle of the night — which means that unless we wake up and store some, we’ll have to do without.
It seems to be an utterly unplanned operation,” she states, adding, “the government simply has to look into the plight of the people before making such decisions. It would be better if they could figure out an alternate way to route a continuous supply of water.”
Those who have back-up borewells are somewhat shielded from the brunt of the inconvenience, but they too admit to being apprehensive about this spell. Megha, an engineering student, is one of these.
“Luckily, we have a borewell. Although there are many complaints about the water level dipping, we haven’t experienced any serious problem so far. But I’ve seen my neighbours struggle with the water crisis — they will be storing water in buckets before the supply is cut, and plan to depend on tanker water after that store is over,” she sums up.