Fix Cauvery water problems without delay, urge Bengaluru residents

Bengaluru: Besides the eight villages still awaiting their connections, other areas supposedly included in the 110 villages have yet to see any sign of Cauvery water.

Residents in some areas, including parts of Bellandur, experienced teething issues with muddy water after supply began, while other areas, such as Vibgyor High School Road, which had an older connection until this year, no longer receive Cauvery water.

Sundaram R., a resident of the lane, explained that the water supply stopped on January 17 this year after the BWSSB claimed it would replace the old pipe with a new one under Cauvery Stage V. However, little progress has been made since.

“Ever since the road has been dug up, they have stopped the supply even though ours is a separate line. We pay between Rs 1,400 and Rs 2,200 every day as apartment residents; 20 tankers every day for nearly 2,000 homes,” he said. Although there is no proof, residents of the area believe the BWSSB’s slow progress in the pipeline work and the tankers fleecing the dependent residents are related.

To this V Ram Prasath Manohar, Chairman, BWSSB, said that their commissioning would “begin shortly” as one of the issues is pending in court. He said that Hoodi has started getting water and soon areas commissioned for Cauvery water in the surrounding areas will start getting water. He added, “We are not able to give water in these eight villages because of land issues in Kadugodi and Chokkanahalli. We could not build a reservoir due to these land issues, that’s why these villages couldn’t be supplied yet.” 

In other parts, such as the Prakruthi Township near Hennur and Horamavu Agara, residents have yet to see testing of the water connections, despite pipelines being laid in 2021. The area does not come under one of the eight villages that do not have pipelines. “March 2025 is most likely. I paid for a connection over two years ago,” said a resident.

A BWSSB engineer explained the difficulties they face, including obtaining traffic police permission to dig up roads.

“There are right-of-way issues for pipe-laying. Sometimes, other civic agencies and OFC operators damage our pipes or valves during underground cable-laying work using the HDD (horizontal directional drilling) method. Identifying and fencing those points, especially in areas where pipelines have been laid but the water supply has not yet started, is challenging,” he said.

He added that local residents’ support is minimal, likely because the time-consuming pipe-laying process disrupts public movement, and many do not seek water connections until pipelines are laid in their neighbourhoods.