Cauvery water alone is not enough for a Bangalore Taps
Bangalore is a thirsty city, and faces a shortage of 225 million litres of water per day (mld). This shortfall is expected to go up to 1030 mld by 2036. Even the Cauvery is not enough for a Bangalore and The BWSSB is now looking far and wide, and proposes to fetch water from the river Krishna. A proposal has been made to get 12 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) water from the Krishna, though experts feel it is not economically sound and would also lead to an uproar.
At present, in the revised masterplan under Scheme-A, the total requirement is 734 tmcft of water from the Krishna, of which 312 tmcft is allocated for irrigation, 1.50 tmcft for domestic and 0.50 tmcft for industries. If the water board proposes to get 12 tmcft water only for Bangalore, people would not keep quiet. Villagers would be up in arms if water is not supplied to the villages falling en route to Bangalore.
At present, demand for water is 1125 mld, while supply stands at 900 mld.The government order dated November 25, 2010, has directed the expert committee to identify alternative sources to supply drinking water to Bangalore for the next 50 years, and produce a detailed report. At present,97% of water supply is from the Cauvery, TG Halli reservoir contributes 3% of the supply. However, water level in the TG Halli reservoir has drastically come down from 44 feet on October 27, 2008, to 20 feet as on October 27, 2010.
In scheme B formulated by the Bachawat Tribunal to resolve the issue of sharing Krishna river water, which is awaiting verdict, the state has requested an allocation of 11 tmcft for domestic and industrial purposes. The Krishna River Water Disputes Tribunal is yet to give its verdict on the allocation of Krishna river water to the state. The BWSSB is also looking at Hemavathy & W Ghats water to flow into Bangalore taps.
While the Krishna is just one option, BWSSB had proposed other alternative sources which are as distant.The BWSSB chairman PB Ramamurthy, in his presentation to the chief minister, had proposed 12 tmcft from Hemavathy (200km away) or 6 tmcft from rivers in Western Ghats (360km away) or 45 tmcft from Mekedattu (70km away).
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