Bengaluru
Residents of around three villages in suburban pockets of Whitefield are forced to cough up around ₹10,000 a month to purchase water, as groundwater has depleted drastically. These residents are dependent on borewells.
In the last five months, many villagers have spent nearly ₹50,000, and a large chunk of their earnings is going into arranging water for day-to-day needs. While earlier, their average spending was ₹500 to ₹600 per month, the situation changed after a water supply agent started to transport water to urban areas from these villages.
Borewells
In Ramagondanahalli village, Jagadish’s weekly spending is ₹2,400. He needs two tankers of water a week. A water tanker of 12,000-litre capacity costs ₹1,200. Mr. Jagadish, speaking to The Hindu, said a water supply agent had dug over 25 borewells in these villages to supply 120 to 130 tankers a day to urban pockets.
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The water from these wells was being pumped round the clock, owing to which water in borewells located in houses had depleted completely. The residents now could not draw water from these wells and were dependent on tanks supplied by the same agent. The situation was no different in Siddapura and Thubarahalli villages.
Mr. Jagadish said the residents had written multiple letters to the Executive Engineer demanding the closure of this agency or to restrict operational hours to help recharge residential borewells, but to no avail. Mr. Jagadish said of the 5,000 houses, only 2,500 houses had Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) connection and the rest are dependent on their borewells.
Umesh M., a resident from Siddapura village, said villagers here were spending anywhere between ₹6,000 and ₹10,000 depending on their requirements. Unrestricted commercial pumping of water had made villagers depend on water tankers. Mr. Umesh said there were months when he spent ₹15,000. The spending goes up when relatives come home.
Spending up
Meanwhile, on the other side of the story, multiple apartments in the Whitefield area are also spending around ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,20,000 a month to purchase water as apartment agents are supplying 6,000 litres of water for ₹750. On a daily basis, three to four tankers are bought by these apartments.
Rama Narayana Swami, a 70-year-old, said 117 families were living in her apartment and most of them are retired. Every month, each house had to spend ₹1,200 to ₹1,300. This has been the plight for the last three months. Earlier, the apartment was spending ₹30,000 per month.
A resident of another private apartment at Nallurhalli said although they had sustainable water management models, monthly water cost came to about ₹1,00,000. The BWSSB supplied water once a week and they were blaming erratic supply on water shortage. Unless BWSSB found some solution, the spending would remain the same, residents said.
An Assistant Executive Engineer of BWSSB said owing to issues with pump sets, the supply had been erratic. The BWSSB was working to fix the problem and it would be resolved soon, the official added.
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