The recent pictures from Bengaluru, of the long queues for water, need to be seen beyond the prism of water scarcity.
The dejected faces, standing in queues with empty containers, suggest that “water suffering” is the reality of all generations. It is difficult to argue who is more affected. Who is suffering — a child who must forego lessons to bring water for the family or a young person standing in a queue to fetch water who doesn’t have enough time and energy to think about her future? Who can think about the loss of an elderly person, who has spent their life more in water queues than at home or the workplace?
Bengaluru has witnessed a great deal of political planning, little actual implementation, and almost no fruitful outcomes with respect to water security. For years the thirsty city has swung between Cauvery and water tanks.
Regretfully, the tale is unchanged this year as well. The city receives around 1,450 million litres per day (MLD) of water from the Cauvery but it faces a shortfall of 1,680 million litres per day. A tanker load (which are usually used as a source of water by the common public and commercial establishments as well) with 12,000 litre capacity now costs Rs 1,500 to Rs 2000 instead of Rs 1,000 which was the rate at the beginning of 2024.
The efforts made by Karnataka government — not enough?
As water is increasingly unavailable and unaffordable, the state government is under a great deal of strain and hence has proposed some urgent steps. For instance, the government has ordered supply of water in huge tankers to Bengaluru from adjoining towns such as Ramanagara, Hoskote, Magadi and Channapatna and has planned to use milk tankers and take over private borewells to resolve the water crisis.
To act on these plans, a substantial budget of Rs 131 crore is allotted by civil bodies for drilling borewells in priority zones. Simultaneously, to control water prices, all private water tankers and borewells are instructed to register with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) before March 7 to avoid facing seizures.
There are doubts regarding the strategies suggested to guarantee the availability of water since 3,700 public borewells in the city have significantly reduced the water levels and 1,214 of the 10,955 borewells in the city have run dry — one could wonder how the financial help will be used efficiently.
It is possible to think that some of the funds will be utilised to build water purification facilities and recycle spent water, however, specifics are still unknown. In the absence of the required details on the plan of action, the doubts would remain, mainly because such a plan of action is not the first initiative by the government.
Previously, even a policy called Karnataka Water Policy 2022 had suggested strategies like re-cycling, re-use of treated waste water and rain water harvesting, industrial water use planning and other such measures. There have been not much noticeable changes on the ground level as people have to stand in queues and are bound to buy water at high prices even in March, when the summer months are just beginning.
A question to reflect on is what has been compromised again and again and what is going wrong. Are the demands not being calculated in terms of water footnotes — which refers to how much water is used for domestic, industrial, or agricultural or other purposes; it also means, how much water is available to use in the form of river and water bodies — or are the calculations wrong because of the increase in population?
The causes of the failures and problems related to water governance should be examined as a whole mainly because this is not a case of ‘tapless homes’ but a problem of ‘waterless taps’.
Unplanned urbanisation
Only uncertain rains and changing climatic conditions cannot be blamed for the water crisis in Bengaluru, population explosion, unplanned urbanisation, unfriendly industrial and agricultural policies have also resulted in this problem. Unquestionably, water planning has not produced the desired results.
The BWSSB, which is primarily responsible for supplying the city with water has acknowledged that Bengaluru’s water supply is becoming scarcer due to the city’s excessive reliance on the Cauvery and the lack of co-ordinated water management.
Given the conditions, it’s hard to envisage brighter times ahead because Bengaluru’s population is expected to shoot up to 20.3 million by 2031, which would once again throw the supply and demand gap for water off the balance.
The BWSSB had previously acknowledged that the average annual population growth of 3% over the next 30 years will mean that Bengaluru’s future water demand cannot be met by the river Cauvery alone. As a result, wise water use is urgently needed, and moving towards effective water demand management is crucial.
The BWSSB in a document titled “Blueprint for the Future” had suggested some innovative measures for water management like establishment of a forum called Water Future Hub. The water board envisaged that the hub would connect local companies with national and international experts to share knowledge and capabilities that can develop new ideas, innovative solutions to address future water challenges. Similarly, the BWSSB also proposed establishing a Water Centre to promote concepts like water conservation, rainwater harvesting and water reuse among people.
Notably, water is still far from the reach of the people in many areas in the Karnataka state capital. The water bodies are still polluted and the water conservation plans are still in the process without much success. Given that the pain experienced by those suffering from water poverty appears to be never-ending, an emphatic analysis of their circumstances is necessary.
Approaches towards water governance should be more human-centric rather than tech-centric. This can help common people understand what is happening with respect to water planning and who are the real beneficiaries of the water projects. It is crucial to realise that the thirsty of the city cannot be a subject of politics and hence immediate effective steps are required to be taken, sensitively.
Dr. Deepti Acharya is working as Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara and author of the Book Water and Public Polices in India, Routledge, New York and London, 2021.
