Seventeen summers back, 110 villages on the city’s outskirts became part of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Lakhs of residents dreamt of Cauvery water supply as the inevitable next step. But shattering that hope, the supply remained a pipe dream as they desperately sought tankers. Will the imminent commissioning of the Cauvery fifth stage finally end their woes? Not really.
Potentially, the 5th Stage could be a game-changer. Bengaluru’s current Cauvery water supply of 1,450 Million Litres per Day (MLD) through the existing four stages, could touch a whopping 2,200 MLD and beyond once Stage 5 is commissioned. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) anticipates that with the 5th Stage, 3 lakh connections will be added to the existing 1.06 million across the city.
‘Cauvery at your doorstep’
So, where is the problem? Only about 55,000 of the estimated 3.5 lakh households in these villages have even applied for the Cauvery water connection. To bridge this huge gap, BWSSB has been forced to undertake a ‘Cauvery at your doorstep’ campaign. Work on the project commenced in 2018 with a ₹5,500 crore loan from Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), but missed several deadlines due to multiple factors.
This delay has been one big reason for the residents’ reluctance to now apply for the piped supply of Cauvery water. The tanker supply system is now well-entrenched in all the areas covered by the 5th Stage, and residents are wary about completely switching to the BWSSB network. The 5th Stage supply covers villages spread across Yeshwanthpura, Bangalore South, Byatarayanapura, T. Dasarahalli, Mahadevapura, Rajarajeshwarinagar, and Bommanahalli and surrounding areas.
View of Cascade Aerator Train, Water Purification centre at Torekadinahalli near Malavalli. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Unreliable and infrequent
“Cauvery water supply has not been reliable. It keeps fluctuating and they release water only twice a week. The supply has never been consistent because it is manually released and the lineman becomes the king. It is not automated, although it is easy to do that,” explains Nagesh Aras, a lake activist and resident of Bellandur village area. His apartment was among the first few that had taken the BWSSB connection when the pipelines first came up.
This experience has made other residents of the 110 villages wary of depending only on Cauvery supply. As Nagesh points out, “when the supply becomes irregular, we have to give some small contract to the tanker guys. It is like an insurance. Often the Cauvery supply faces issues like low pressure and we suddenly run out of water.”
Tankers as dependable backup
Tankers are thus seen as a relatively dependable backup. “During water shortage periods, the tanker operators know who their regular, premium, contracted customers are. So they will get the priority and not the one-off customer who asks for five tankers. It is like a loyalty discount. For many people, the tanker operators are seen as more reliable, more reachable and accessible than someone from the BWSSB,” says Arun Kumar from the Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF).
The steep cost of getting a connection has also dissuaded many from applying for a connection. “It also depends on how close you are to the nearest pipeline. Pressure and proximity matters. If water is provisioned for say, 30,000 homes. A new building comes up with 400-500 homes. It gets even scarce for those already getting the supply. The new customers get only a trickle and it is not adequate,” Arun explains. “They then think, we might as well get a tanker or dig a borewell. There are people digging 2,000ft deep and checking for water availability.”
The government hopes to recover at least a part of the huge investment on the project through enhanced connections. Under the 5th Stage, a massive water treatment plant was built, arguably India’s largest, with a capacity of 775 MLD. This is complemented by three pumping stations at T.K. Halli, Harohalli and Tataguni, to bring Cauvery water from a distance of 110km.
View of progress of Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) Phase 3 Stage 5 Project at Kengeri. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
Recovering huge investment cost
Inevitably, the project demands a densified distribution area to be viable in the long run. But here too, there is a problem. Bengaluru’s largely unregulated expansion without a master plan or land-use policy has left vast swathes of areas in a mess. “They say we cannot give water connection if you don’t have an occupancy certificate (OC). This is not issued because the 110 villages have a large number of illegal structures. BWSSB cannot get a good density of customers because half of them are illegal,” says Nagesh.
The coupling of water and sanitation charges is another issue. He elaborates: “We have our own Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) by law. Sanitation charges have to be paid although we are not even qualified to connect to their Underground Drainage (UGD) lines. It is not logical to dump treated water in sewage lines because it will dilute the sewage going to their STPs. The bacteria will not survive and their plants will stop working.” He dubs the double charge as unfair and finds it unattractive to potential customers.
In many areas under the 110 villages, the water lines were laid about five years ago. Residents say these pipelines have not been retested for quality.
Water, sewerage lines as package
While apartments with STPs have issues with sanitation charges, there are areas where BWSSB is expected to include both water and sewerage lines as a package. “Many might not apply for a connection if the package does not include both, since sewerage management would become a challenge. People will then think twice about it,” notes BAF president Vikram Rai.
Ultimately, it is also about trust. He explains, “We have a bunch of apartments under our Federation, who are still waiting after paying for the connection in 2017-18. It has been seven years, people will have trust issues if the implementation is not guaranteed. Those who have not applied will want a guarantee that supply will start the next day. Only then would they pay.”
The commissioning deadline has already been extended multiple times over the last few months, and this has only made it trickier for the potential consumers. Pushing for more connections, the ‘Cauvery at your doorstep’ campaign will have a lot of answering to do before the consumer is convinced.
Published - October 01, 2024 09:00 am IST
