JOIN USIt would be too late to realise for Bangaloreans if necessary action to use water judiciously is not adopted now. Even with alarming low reservoir levels recorded at Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) and Kabini at present, there has not been any significant effort taken by BWSSB to educate consumers.
Bangalore needs 3.5 tmc (thousand million cubic) feet of water till May-end and at present the live storage above sill level at KRS is 3.917 tmc and at Kabini, the level had recorded zero.
Despite the crisis, the government, as well as BWSSB, are not publishing actual figures in public domain about the grave water crisis and the need to use it judiciously.
Former BWSSB Engineer M N Tippeswamy says Bangaloreans are not aware of ground reality of water crisis.
“The number of vehicles in Bangalore is only increasing and there is a criminal waste of water in washing them. There is a greater need to educate the public to use treated water for cleaning,” he added.
Nearly 15 per cent of water is wasted due to leakage at water pipeline networks across the City due to old, corroded pipelines and nearly seven per cent of leakage happens at groundwater reservoirs.
With gallons of water leaking from BWSSB pipelines, the Board lacks the moral authority to ask consumers to make judicious use of water.
BWSSB claims to have been distributing water equally to all the areas in Bangalore, but in reality, there is large-scale disparity in supply.
According to a BWSSB report on distribution timings, Bangalore South, South-East, West and Central receive water supply on alternate days with average supply hours ranging from 6 to 18 hours. Many areas in Bangalore North and East receive water weekly once for just a few hours, while some VIP areas receive water almost 22 hours a day, sources said.