Bengaluru Cauvery Stage V project: Pipes go underground, but connections still to surface

Bengaluru: The Cauvery Stage V project was inaugurated in October 2024, yet nearly one-and-a-half years on, several areas on the periphery of the city still await sewerage connections.

Works began in March 2018, and many residents who paid for sewage connections in 2019 are still waiting. Having missed multiple deadlines, they had hoped the sewerage network would be operational by the end of 2025.

BWSSB Chairman Ramprasat Manohar V said work in the majority of areas was complete.

"Close to 90% of these 110 villages have been provided with sewage connections. However, a few STPs are to be operationalised. We will complete them soon," he said.

While the board claimed 90% coverage across the 110 villages, residents said that in several areas, only pipelines were laid, but the system was not operational.

"The pipelines have been laid and chambers made. However, the officials had asked us not to connect our existing chambers to the network since the STPs were not operational. Even though the pipelines were laid nearly four years ago, the services have not begun officially," said Srinivas Rao, a resident of Thanisandra.

Of the 14 STPs planned to address sewage treatment needs across the 110 villages brought into Bengaluru's municipal limits in 2008, only five are operational, one is stuck in a legal battle, and eight will be completed only by July 2026.

A BWSSB study further found that nine more STPs are needed to meet the requirements of these villages, with works on the additional plants expected to be completed only by 2028.

The absence of a sewage network has led to illegal discharge into lakes and storm water drains, polluting water bodies. There have been multiple complaints in recent years about sewage flowing into lakes, particularly from apartment complexes on the city's periphery.