Benniganahalli is a tidily laid out locality. It has pretty little houses with space for their own gardens, neatly arranged roadways that do not go around in a maze of one way streets, schools, supermarkets and boutique stores.
What it doesn't have is water.
With the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme stage IV phase II yet to reach this recently developed area at the far end of Bangalore east, residents depend on water tankers from private operators.
From ground to home
A whole host of such private enterprises — Kalyan, Sabari, E.M.S., Lavanya and Harshitha water supply companies — exist in this area.
“We fill each house once in three or four days,” says the driver of a tanker, who did not want to be named.
He points his finger down the road when asked from where the water is sourced.
After many such fingers pointing down the same road, which tapers to a cluster of houses on a mud road, one comes upon a small clearing, where a bevy of tankers quietly fill up water from a borewell.
“There are many such sourcing points in this area, where we have spent money to sink deep borewells, ensuring regular water supply to residents,” says Gopal, who has been running Harshitha water company for the past three years.
“This part of Bangalore has been using tanker water for the past 20 years,” he informs. “Residents cannot be sure [at what depth] they will hit water if they spend on a borewell themselves.”
Every day, a tanker makes around 15 load deliveries of 4,000 litres each.
Lack of guidelines
“We are yet to decide on guidelines and restrictions on pumping of groundwater for supply by private enterprises, to fill the supply gap,” says T. Venkataraju, chief engineer at Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).
“As of now, we haven't given licenses to any private supplier.”
BWSSB supplies water in tankers only in areas where there is absolutely no access to water, which are mostly slums.
Building on lakes
“This area used to be agricultural land till the 80s,” says Arul Mani, a professor living at OMBR Layout nearby.
He remembers that when he first moved to his current residence in the 90s, almost all of what was to become HRBR layout was a lake.
“Those who used to own agricultural lands have sunk borewells in their lands and are supplying water now,” he explains.
According to BWSSB spokesperson Sarala Lakshmi, east Bangalore and the newly developed localities there are the most difficult to supply water to.
Pumping trouble
“When water is drawn from the Cauvery in the south, it has to go through five pumping stages before it reaches the eastern parts of the city,” she explains.
South Bangalore is only three stages away with a pumping station in Thatguni, while the north is getting a pumping station in Yelahanka to make the route shorter for the water.
“Also, the growth rate in east Bangalore has been much more and rapid than in other areas,” she says. “So consumption is higher than expected and growing faster than supply.”
‘Can't be the only source'
“Cauvery is not the only source of water we have that we need to pump it all the way from two districts away,” argues R. Prabhakar, convener of People's Campaign Against Water Privatisation.
“Lakes, that remain ornamental in Bangalore, need to be cleared of silt and used for groundwater recharge,” he says.
“That way, each locality will be self-sufficient with respect to water and that's a responsibility the government needs to take. What it does now will lead to commoditisation of a basic natural resource,” he warns.
