Raghavendra Layout residents complain about contaminated water

They say repeated complaints to BWSSB have not yielded results

A BWSSB official admitted there has been sewage percolation into the water pipeline to Raghavendra Layout.

 

For more than a month, people living and working at Raghavendra Layout, an industrial pocket in Yeshwantpur, have been fighting for water that is clean and not a health hazard. The small locality, which has many industrial units, scrap yards, garment factories, and offices, has reportedly been getting contaminated water since July 21.

Sadatan M.R., who owns a commercial building in the locality, claimed that repeated complaints to the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had not yielded any results. Multiple inspections had also been conducted and assurances of setting the problem right were made by the board officials, he said. “We have also written to the BWSSB chairman. We have been made to run from pillar to post and forced to buy tanker water. We have bought more than one lakh litres of water so far. No alternate arrangement has been made by the BWSSB either,” he added.

According to Anwar, who works in a scrap yard in the locality, the water supplied by the BWSSB smelled foul. He said he has been buying drinking water every day. This problem and the lack of a solution is making a few building owners hesitate before applying for a new water connection. “The neighbouring buildings have been complaining about the contaminated water despite paying bills. We are wondering if we should even seek a water connection now,” said a building owner, who has yet to apply for a connection.

When contacted, the jurisdictional BWSSB official told The Hindu that a blockage in the main underground drainage line has been identified as the cause. “This major line is more than six metres underground. The BWSSB’s wastewater management division is trying to locate the blockage. The line is also slated to be replaced with a bigger pipeline and a tender has been floated for the same,” the official said.

 

The official added that because of the blockage, there is sewage percolation in the water supply pipeline to Raghavendra Layout. “We have collected water samples from the layout and sent them for testing. We have also asked the building owners and businesses located there to use BWSSB water tanker service whenever required,” the official claimed.