The arrival of summer usually brings with it two civic problems along with the rising temperatures — power cuts and water shortage. Large parts of the city have been forced to go without water as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) began major works this week at the Phase II of Cauvery Stage IV, which has affected the functioning of the first, second and third stages.
On Thursday and Friday, water supply was hit in almost all parts of the city as the BWSSB had to undertake the work of shifting two pipelines to make way for the construction of a reservoir at Thoraikadanahalli (T.K. Halli). Though the BWSSB planned to complete the work within 12 hours to minimise inconvenience, it got extended to 30 hours, thus affecting water supply.
Due to the delay, water supply was resumed in some parts only late on Friday night. A BWSSB official said the central, eastern and northern parts of the city would be given partial supply on Saturday. When asked why the project was taken up at this time, the official said they had no other option as the deadline for the completion of Stage IV, which is March 2012, was fast approaching.
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T. Venkatraju, Chief Engineer (Maintenance), BWSSB, admitted that the timing chosen for the repair works was not exactly appropriate and that even they were taking a risk. “But if we don't do it now, the entire project will be delayed. It had to be done at sometime,” he said.
As for the measures taken to tackle the anticipated shortage of supply through the dry season, he said there was no option but to efficiently manage with the existing resources.
The BWSSB has also offered to undertake the repair of problems related to its bore wells, such as the motor. “We have requested councillors to update us with any such problems. People can complain about problems in our bore wells by calling our call centre no: 22238888.”
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The BWSSB is also relying on the outcome of high level correspondence between the BWSSB and Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) about providing consistent power supply at least to the pumping stations.