Flow of thought centres on reuse at water meet

The annual water conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industries on ‘Smart Water Management for Cities’ on Wednesday threw up interesting solutions from conservationists, environmentalists and the public.

Ratna Prabha, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Commerce and Industries, said, “There is a pressing need to start water conservation practices, reduce wastage and implement measures to use water judicially.” 

Anjum Parvez, chairman, BWSSB, said, “We are very lucky today that we are able to get water in the City once in two days, the future could be much worse.”

He said, “The City has grown enormously and today, the total demand for water is a whopping 1,600 million litres per day. The water to the City currently comes from 150 km away through a three-stage pumping of 1,500 feet. Half of the operational and maintenance cost of BWSSB for bringing water to Bengaluru goes towards electricity charges for pumping. In the next 20 to 25 years, the demand for water in the City will double.”

He said that the City gets 900 mm of rainfall annually which is roughly 26 tmc of water, more than enough to take care of the drinking water needs for the next 30 years. 

“The issue is how we are going to tap this water resource. Eighty per cent of the water consumed goes waste and we reuse only a tiny portion of this. If we can reuse just 50 per cent of waste water (about 500 MLD), we will not need to squabble for water.”

On the occasion, a website of the Karnataka State Water Network was launched by Gaurav Gupta, Commissioner for Industrial Development nd Director of the Department of Industries and Commerce. 

The department will conduct a benchmarking study in major KIADB industrial areas in the State, keeping in view the international industry standards and best practices to map the water consumption pattern, energy consumption pattern, solid waste management and discharge practices of various companies.

Hariprasad Hegde, convenor, CII Water Task Force, said that the demand-supply gap, which was estimated to be 750 MLD in Bengaluru City for 2013, is expected to reach 1,300 MLD by 2020. While existing fresh water sources are stressed, new sources are not being explored effectively.

Water distribution systems are aging and leakages are common. Natural water reservoirs are of questionable quality due to contamination from untreated sewage flows from neighbouring areas, he said.