Bengaluru residents struggle as water crisis leaves them high and dry

While the ongoing water crisis threatens to leave the city parched, Bengalureans are also struggling with their daily routines as they strive to make the most of the limited resources available.

It is around 6 pm and this is the fourth time Krishna has returned to Parishudha Jala in Rajarajeshwari nagar to fill drinking water, having failed the first three attempts owing to the long queue of 20 odd people each time. After waiting for around half-an-hour, 28-year-old Krishna was finally able get a chance to fill water.

“This all started two months ago. Before that when we would come here, there would be two-three people at most. Now, there are long queues in the morning as well as in the evening.”

While the ongoing water crisis threatens to leave the city parched, Bengalurueans are also struggling with their daily routines as they strive to make the most of the limited resources available. 

Nanda Khattri, a house help who lives in a rented room in Begur road, says that she gets access to water once a day at 8 pm when she and her neighbours make sure to fill all their buckets and utensils. 

“There are 22 rooms in total. Till a month back we would get water all day long. But since the past few days, it has happened twice or thrice when I did not get access to water even once a day,” Khattri told DH.

While Nanda and her neighbours buy drinking water from outside, for bathing and daily chores, they have to wait with bated breath hoping to get water in their taps at least once a day. 

Walking distance from her house is an apartment called Salarpuria Sattva Greenage, which has over 1600 flats. 

The apartment complex has amenities like swimming pools, a gym, sports facilities, cafes, departmental stores, hospitals, and multiple common toilets. However, to minimise the wastage of water, its association has decided to close all the common washrooms barring one and has shut down the gym, pool and cafes. 

In terms of reserve water, each of the ten blocks in the complex has its own water storage, and even though on an average there is about 20 per cent water left in these reserves, Nishant Dayal, president of the Greenage Owners Association, believes that they can’t take any chance because when it comes to water, it is “better safe than sorry.” 

While curtailing the use of water in common facilities is in the hands of the association, Dayal trusts the residents to use water mindfully at home as it becomes “impossible” to police personal usage. 

Nanda, who works in three houses in this complex, testifies the change in the attitude of the residents: “All three of the houses that I work in have asked me to use water with caution. While washing utensils, I do not leave the tap running anymore.”

While residents in apartments are trying to chalk down a feasible plan of action to stay afloat in the crisis, those living as paying guests have also experienced significant changes in the past few months.

25-year-old Deepika who stays in a PG in Pattanagere says that water is available to them only for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. However, that too comes at a cost. 

“They have charged Rs 1,000 extra from each resident to pay for the tanker."

Deepika noted that earlier the water from their borewell would be sufficient, and even if it wasn't, tankers were easily available.  

"During the weekdays the crisis does not affect me much since I go to the office early in the morning. However, on weekends, I have to order drinking water from delivery apps.”

Echoing similar sentiments on overpaying for water, Dayal shared that they had to massively negotiate to avoid paying exorbitant amounts of money to tankers.

A water tanker survey conducted by the Federation of apartment and villa associations in Bengaluru had suggested that there was a 30 per cent-200 per cent escalation in costs of water tankers (different levels of escalation in different areas) two to three weeks back. 

Nearly 1,300 associations and about three lakh households fall under the umbrella of this federation.

What steps has the government taken?

1. Taking the matter of irregular pricing of tankers in their own hands, the Karnataka government has capped the prices of water tankers in the city. According to a recent order, prices of 12,000-litre water tankers are capped at Rs 1,000 for a distance within five kilometers and at Rs 1,200 for areas between five and ten kilometres.

The order caps the daily rental prices of 6,000-litre water tankers at Rs 5,200 and rent for 12,000-litre water tankers at Rs 7,100 per day.

2. In another attempt to tackle the soaring tanker prices, D K Shivakumar last week announced that the state government would take over all private water tankers in the city. All private water tankers and borewells were required to register with the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) before March 7. 

While Vikram Rai - President, Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) told DH that it is too early to comment on the fruitfulness of the aggregation of private water tanker system, he hopes "bringing them under a formal registration mechanism and then using that information to control any hoarding and unreasonable price manipulation should be the intention, while facilitating supply to most needy sections of the city.”

3. The government has also announced that apartments will be allowed to sell treated water. "Big apartment complexes in Bengaluru have excess treated water which can be used for non-potable purposes. The government will issue guidelines and norms within a week for sale of treated water," Karnataka Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre said this week. As the government has sought a week’s time to provide more clarity on the same, residents’ associations are waiting for detailed instructions.

4. Siddaramaiah had earlier this week ordered the release of Rs 210 crore for district-level authorities to manage the drinking water crisis. Of this, Rs 70 crore is meant to drill new borewells wherever necessary to find water.

5. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board banned the use of drinking water for cleaning vehicles, gardening, construction, and other recreational purposes. Anyone who violates the order will be fined Rs 5,000.

As residents all around Bengaluru try to find a solution to a problem they have not created, Dayal believes that a meter system to monitor water usage will go a long way. 

While he assures that they are looking to install a water meter system soon and have even called experts to assist in the process, a crisis like the current one demands more attention at this point. 

“We are waiting for the right time. We have to come out of the current situation, that is the immediate crisis. It is an ICU-like situation.”

Meanwhile, the BAF is running a campaign to help apartments to learn and implement efficiency tips, at a personal and community level.

As citizens all over the city struggle to sustainbly use water with little idea on how long they will have to go like this, CM Siddaramaiah has said 9 mm of pre-monsoon rainfall is expected. "According to the weather forecast, normal rainfall is expected."