As water crisis deepens in Bengaluru, private tankers hike price

The price has gone up by nearly 40%

Children wait to fetch potable water at Nayandahalli, which gets supply once a week.

The deepening water crisis in the city has pushed up the price of water supplied by private tankers — the sole lifeline for people residing in areas such as Whitefield and Sarjapur with no piped supply — by nearly 40%.

The price of a 10,000 litre water tanker load, which was in the range of ₹700 to ₹750 in February, has gone up to ₹1,000 to ₹1,200.

But, more importantly even borewells from which these tankers are filled seem to be drying up.

Praveen Reddy, who has been supplying water for the last 12 years to residents in Marathahalli and Outer Ring Road, said that for the first time in many summers he was unable to meet the demand.

He is now supplying water to only regular clients and rejecting new orders.

“Of the two borewells we have, one has gone completely dry. In the other, the water level has dropped by over 60% when compared to last year,” said Mr. Reddy.

 

Even two months ago, it would take suppliers an hour to fill a 10,000-litre tanker with water from a borewell.

Now, however, with reduced water level, it takes them three hours to fill the same tanker.

“This limits the amount of water we can supply,” Mr. Reddy said.

Even other parts of the city could face difficulties in the event of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board rationing Cauvery water supply as in several areas borewells have already dried out.