Filing up a City's hopes

It was more two decades ago that this vast reservoir filled up. Built by the Wodeyars, it last filled up in 1992. It almost reached full capacity in 1999. But since then, this water body, once the lifeline of Bangalore, has only been able to hold varying levels of water but it has never been able to supply water regularly.

This is the Tippegondanahalli reservoir across river Arkavathy, which was built in 1933 after the Hesarghata reservoir dried up. For the last few years, the TG Halli, as it also called, has never had enough water.

TG Halli has been in the news in the last few days as  the water level in it has been steadily going up, thanks to copious rains in the catchment areas.

The TG Halli once supplied drinking water to areas in the west of the city, but encroachment of lakes, growing urbanisation and rapid expansion of the city have seen storage levels plummet.

The last time the reservoir was filled was in 1992 and after that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which operates the TG Halli, gave up pumping water and shifted focus entirely on Cauvery water supply to Bangalore.

BWSSB officials are hoping that the water level in TG Halli rises further. Last Monday, saw TG Halli hold 26 feet of water and this is encouraging as last year at the same time, the water level stood at 17 feet.

Since Karnataka received good rains in September and October, the BWSSB hopes that the water level would go up further.

Constructed at the confluence of the Arkavathi and the Kumudvati rivers, TG Halli has a depth of 74 ft and its total storage capacity is 3 tmc ft. Officials say heavy rain in catchment areas like Doddaballapur (which recently recorded 11 cm of rainfall) has seen the water levels in the reservoir rise.
The BWSSB is not pumping any water from TG Halli though if need be it can pump about  350 mld. However, the water board wants to keep TG Halli supply as stand by.

If it was the then Dewan of Mysore, K Seshadri Iyer, who conceived of Hesarghatta reservoir, it was another Dewan-Sir M. Visvesvaraiah- who recommend TG Halli as a means to ease Bangalore’s growing thirst for water.

When Hesarghatta proved insufficient to meet the water needs and it went dry 1925, TG Halli was commissioned in 1933.

The first stage of TG Halli was designed to provide a daily supply of 27mld of water for a city's population of 3 lakh, but this too soon proved inadequate. The reservoir was once again deepened and the water works modified to cater to the population of one million in 1956..

However, with the city's population growing by leaps and bounds and the water proving inadequate, the State Government decided to supply water from the Cauvery. In 1964, the Government approved the first stage of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS). Five stages of CWSS have proved insufficient and the government is now looking at alternatives to boost daily water supply as the City currently faces a shortage of 225 million litres of water per day (mld).

This shortage is expected to go up by 1030 mld in 2036. BWSSB is thinking of supplying water from the Krishna and it has drawn up several other schemes but the best bet would be to revive the Hesarghatta and TG Halli reservoirs.

If the TG Halli lake has to be revived, the catchment areas of Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Magadi and Nelamangala in Bangalore Rural and Ramanagra districts have to be cleared of encroachments and the lakes and tanks restored as they form a vital part of the regeneration programme. Fortunately, all thee areas have so far received good rainfall and the inflow to TG halli has been steadily rising. Usually, the reservoir starts filling up in September, October and November.
 In the last seven years, the water level had not gone up beyond 43 ft. If it fills up, Bangalore can get at least 135 million litres of drinking water every day.

Not many remember that till 1980, TG Halli  was one of the main sources of drinking water to the city and it supplied water to Bangalore West including the localities of Rajajinagar, Sunkadakatte and Vijayanagar. It was in 2012 that the BWSSB finally gave up on TG Halli and discontinued supply of water from it.

One of the many options that the BWSSB is now planning for TG Halli is to recharge the reservoir and the Arkavathy surface water source, by using treated sewage from the  Koramangala and Challaghatta valley (K&C) waste water treatment plant.

The project proposes to divert the treated water to Nandi Hills which would flow into various lakes located downstream and ultimately to the TG Halli reservoir.
It involves construction of  four centrifugal pumps from K&C Valley till Nandi Hills and construction of a ground-level reservoir (GLR) at the foot of the hills. The proposed plan is to pump 200 mld of treated sewage using the centrifugal pumps, each having 50 mld capacity to an elevation of 980 metres into the proposed ground level reservoir.

The treated water would then be pumped using booster pumps to the identified hill surface facing the TG Halli catchment area. The water would be sent to tanks and lakes along TG Halli which would ultimately get filled.

The cost was estimated in 2005 at Rs 415 crore. Today, it needs at least a hundred crores more to take up this project, which also requires an annual  operation and maintenance cost of Rs 80 crore.
Apart from this step, the State and the BWSSB have to tackle the issue of   unplanned development, encroachment of catchment areas, altered drainage system, quarrying, denudation of forests and other related urban issues.

And now, water from Linganamakki

Well, after years of talks, hundreds of seminars, innumerable workshops and also years of  hibernation and inertia,  things are seeming to move towards providing drinking water supply to Bangalore. And this is to augment the Cauvery water supply that Bangalore receives every day.

Bangalore has always been a water scare city and right from its inception, it has faced problems of water supply. But it is only recently that the water scarcity has assumed herculean proportions and several areas have had to go without water.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which looks after the water supply to Bangalore, has been trying for several years to locate alternate water sources to fulfill the thirst of Bangaloreans. It has found the Cauvery inadequate to meet the water needs and there has been several surveys and technical reports on augmenting the water supply.

A few days ago, an expert committee constituted by the BWSSB, formed in 2010 to identify both long and short term solutions to the growing water demand in the City, has now identified Linganmakki as an alternate and more than adequate source to fulfill the water needs of Bangalore.

This panel was constituted by the then BJP Government and it consists of nine members. The report of the panel has not so far been made public though it is ready.
The report of the nine-member panel has zeroed in on Linganmakki in Sagar taluk of Shimoga district as Bangalore’s answer for the much searched alternative.
Linganamakki is the one of the biggest reservoirs in Karnataka and it has a capacity to store151 tmc (thousand million cubic) feet of water with an annual inflow of 181 tmc.
This is just six kilometers away from the world famous Jog Falls and it is built across the Sharavati river.  It was constructed in 1954 and the dam has a length of 2.4 kms.

The dam was initially designed to impound 4368 million cubic meter of water in an area of around 300 km², submerging 50.62 km² of wetland and 7 km² of dry land, with the remaining being forest land and wasteland.

The dam has a height of 1,819 feet (554 m) and it mainly receives water from the Chakra and Savahaklu reservoirs, which are linked to it through a canal.

The water from the Linganamakki flows to Talakalale Balancing Reservoir through a trapezoidal canal with a discharge capacity of 175.56 m³/s. The length of this channel is about 4318.40 metres with a submersion of 7.77 km². It has a catchment area of about 46.60 km².

Behind the dam is a large reservoir. The discharge from the dam can be quite heavy. When the dam's sluice gates are closed upstream from Jog Falls, it is possible to walk down into the fall's ravine.

The committee has suggested laying of  pipelines for about 100 km from Linganamakki to Yagachi dam in Hassan district. These pipelines could easily draw 50 tmc feet of water. A problem here is that the pipelines would have to be routed through forests and environmentalists may not take kindly to this.

Once the water reaches Yagachi dam, water will flow through gravity for nearly 50 km to reach Bangalore city. The BWSSB says this water can not only be supplied to Bangalore but also to neighbouring Kolar, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur and Chitradurga. 

Apart from this project, the BWSSB committee has also proposed a reservoir at Mekedaatu in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagara district. It says this water can be used for irrigation and agriculture purposes. However, this is unlikely to be a smooth issue as Tamil Nadu has already voiced its opposition to any water retention project on the Cauvery.

The committee has also said that water can be drawn from Lakshmanateertha river to Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam near Mysore in Mandya district which would store the water and later release it to Bangalore. This too is unlikely to be easy as Tamil Nadu would fight for what its perceives its rightful share of impounded water in the KRS.
It would, therefore, appear that the best alternate sources if Linganmakki. The committee itself  has estimated that the project cost would be in the range of Rs 100 crores and that it can be completed in three years.

The committee has also proposed that more water be drawn from the Cauvery basin, within the framework of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award.
Apart from these recommendations, the committee has also come up with measures to plug leakages in Bangalore, reduce unaccounted water, enforce dual pipeline system and replace old pipes.

As of now, the water wastage in Bangalore is as high as 48 per cent and the committee has said urgent steps are needed to bring it down to 16 per cent or less.

Bangalore wastes twice the water Mysore consumes every day

Ever since its founding, Bangalore has always had to face water shortage. But the first recorded water shortage was sometime in the 1870s when several tanks were dug and the Hesarghatta reservoir was commissioned.

Yet, even almost one hundred and fifty years after the first water scarcity, Bangalore has never been able to quench the thirst of its citizens. Today, we have four stages of Cauvery, TG Halli and ground water.

All the water sources put together have not been able to meet the demands of the people. What makes the water situation worse is that 50.9 per cent of the City’s drinking water is allowed to go waste. This may sound incredulous but this is a fact and it has been validated by none other than the Union Ministry of Urban Development.

The Union Ministry, in a nation wide survey of twenty eight cities, ranked Delhi as the city wasting the maximum quantity of water. Delhi was followed by Bangalore and then Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

If Delhi wasted a little over 52 per cent of the water supplied to it, Bangalore with no major source of drinking water nearby, was equally generous-wasting 50.9 per cent  of the water supplied.    

The rest of the cities wasted anything between 13 per cent to 50 per cent and even among the 28 cities, the mega cities of Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad took the honors, outdoing other cities and leading in the wastage race by a huge margin.

A bigger metropolis like Mumbai was estimated to waste a little over 13 per cent. Chennai was seventeen percent and both these cities have oceans adjacent to them, while Bangalore has no such luxury.  

The study also says that only 50.8 per cent of Bangalore’s population has access to piped water supply. The rest depend on unorganised water supply sources like open wells and bore wells.
The wasted water, which can be classified as non-revenue water, is fed into the system and it does not reach the consumer. The reasons are many: pilferage, leak in pipes, theft, illegal diversion and even non-metering.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which manages Bangalore’s water supply, has managed to meter  97 per cent households it supplies water too. However, it has not bee as successful in reducing wastage.
Bangalore gets 900 million litres of water per day (MLD) against a demand of 1,125 MLD. In addition to this, the BWSSB is gearing itself up to provide 45,000 new water connections. This doubles the pressure on water supply and the BWSSB has been struggling to meet the demand for water.

Last year, the water scarcity reached such proportions that this May, the BWSSB had to switch off its pumps for the first time in 30 years.

Former Additional Chief Secretary V Balasubramanian has gone on record saying that Bangalore needs Rs 26,000 crores to purify its water. Of this, Rs 5,000 crores is required to re-acquire encroached lakes, while at least Rs 10,000 crores in urgently wanted for developing  850 km of stormwater drain (rajakaluve) and Rs 2,750 crores for sewage treatment plants.
The BWSSB, however, has its own figures. It says it supplies close to 1,100 MLD to Bangalore  everyday and loses 396 MLD in transmission and distribution — with a loss percentage of 36 per cent.

Very few people know that the water loss between Cauvery and bulk storage reservoirs in Bangalore account for less than 3 per cent. The water treatment plant at TK Halli from where Cauvery is pumped to Bangalore is situated 400 metres below Bangalore. The distance between TK Halli and Bangalore is about 94 km. Therefore, water is pumped to Bangalore through three stages of pumping-TK Halli pumping station, Harohalli  and Thataguni.

From Tataguni, water is pumped to 55 ground level reservoirs and from them to the consumers.   

The leak till the ground level reservoir is less than three per cent. The bulk of the loss of water has been traced to the distribution system of over 5000 kms of pipeline, which is old. Other reasons are theft, water supply to 500 odd slums and in other cases unmetered connections.

Consider another fact. Mysore consumes 180 MLD of water every day and Bangalore loses twice the quantity every day.

A project to curb these losses to 16 per cent is expected to finish only by 2015. This project is being taken up in six Assembly constituencies of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet, Padmanabhanagar, Jayanagar, BTM Layout and Bangalore South to get data on unaccounted water. The project would be completed in 18 months.

Other measures by the water board which include compulsory registration of borewells and compulsory rainwater harvesting have met with limited success.

Ground water in court

The State Government is yet to formulate a policy to tackle contamination of ground water in Bangalore and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and other authorities are yet to put in long term measures and take remedial steps to tackle the issue.

Ground water contamination has for long been the bane of Bangalore and there have been surveys by several agencies, including the State Government itself, the Department of Mines and Geology, BWSSB, CGWB, Bangalore University, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) on ground water, its contamination and depletion.

The issue of contamination of ground water on Monday reached the portals of the Karnataka High Court and the first court (This is so called as it is the court of the Chief Justice) took up the issue.

A Division bench comprising the Chief Justice, D.H. Waghela and Justice B.V. Nagaratna, were hearing a suo motu petition on water contamination n Bangalore.

The Bench has ordered the State Government to convene a meeting of officials from civic agencies on the supply of potable water to 110 villages under the jurisdiction of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.
It has said that the meeting should be chaired by the Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department and that the Commissioner of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Chairman of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) should participate in the meeting.
The Bench asked the Karnataka Ground Water Authority to explore the possibility of treating ground water in 169 borewells, found to be contaminated and recharging the dried up borewells.

Besides, the State Government was directed to submit a report by next date of hearing.

The case is now likely to jog the authorities into taking remedial action. Though the water supply system of Bangalore is more than a hundred years old, problems of supply, contamination, leakage of water, quality continued to dog it.

Bangalore holds the distinction of  getting the country’s first filtered water supply scheme from Hesarghatta which was commissioned during August 1896.

It was also the first city to get piped water supply and also lay and extensive underground drainage network. When Hesarghatta proved inadequate and dried up, the Arkavathy scheme was put in place between 1933, leading to the creation of TG Halli. When this too proved  inadequate, the BWSSB went in for Cauvery water supply and it commissioned Cauvery schemes in Stage – I,II,III and Stage IV Phase I.

The City’s present drinking water supply is just over 860 million liters per day (MLD). Out of the current 860 MLD water supply to the city a lion’s share of 95 per cent is provided by the Cauvery. The BWSSB has 6.23 water supply connections.

Yet, the thirst for water remains. With sources of surface water becoming scare, the only option is ground water but latest reports highlight the deplorable condition of groundwater.

One of the many reports by the Department of Mines and Geology (DMG), Karnataka, reveals the appalling condition of groundwater in Bangalore. The study found that groundwater, which meets more than 40 per cent of the  domestic potable water needs, is rich in iron, nitrate and coliform. It is also rich in Radon and other pollutants.  

Apart from this, there are plenty of other studies and scientific papers that prove that Bangalore’s ground water is highly contaminated. There are studies that talk about depleting ground water levels and others that warn of a serious epidemic if the chemicals and pollutants are not brought under permissible limits.

Moreover, the impact of garbage, debris and landfills around Bangalore on the ground water needs sustained study.

The Environment Support Group has studied the effect of the  landfill at Mavallipura on the ground water.

It says the rainwater dripping into the landfill may contaminate major water sources of the region like the Arkavathy river and Tippagondanahalli reservoir.
 Mavallipura is located in the centre of the catchment area of Arkavathy river which leads to Tippagondanahalli (TG Halli) reservoir.

The contamination of  TG Halli reservoir will impact the city directly as parts of Bangalore such as Rajajinagar still depend on it for drinking water supply. 

As of now, ESG survey shows that residents of Mavallipura and surrounding villages like Mallappanahalli and Kurubarahalli are already affected by the contaminated water. Moreover, many diseases, including malaria and typhoid, are being regularly reported.
By the way, Mavallipura and other villages do not get Cauvery water. They depend on the well and lakes for their purposes. All these water bodies have high level of chemicals. 

Though dumping of waste has stopped, the already contaminated underground water needs to be treated and rejuvenated  The 40-lakh tonne garbage in the landfill needs to be scientifically segregated and disposed off if it is to cause no further harm.

Groundwater news at your fingertips

Anyone building a house, commercial complex or an apartment today generally goes for drilling of borewells. Though the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has made it mandatory for registration of new borewells, there is not much information except in the media and in research and scientific institutions about groundwater, its quality and other details.

Though a majority of  educated Bangaloreans are aware of the over exploitation of ground water and also the contamination, they too have limited access to such information.

Very few agencies have information on the groundwater, the water table, contamination and pother aspects. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), which comes under the Ministry of Water Resources, has come up with an information system about all these aspects.

The system not only gives information on the ground water availability but also on critically contaminated areas.

What makes the system important is that it also gives information to the public about long-term medical conditions and health hazards that contamination can cause.

The system says that 45 per cent of Bangalore's water has high nitrate content. It also says that pollution is higher in western parts of the city, where sewage is let out directly into Vrishabavathi river. It also points out that water in all industrial belts like Peenya, Rajajinagar, Hoskote and Kanakapura Road areas has high concentration of magnesium, chlorides and nitrates and all these chemicals are harmful to human beings.

The groundwater in these areas are found to be slightly alkaline, indicating high concentration of chlorides and magnesium

Besides, Bangalore and 83 other taluks of Bangalore district  has high amount of nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic. Research has shown that high levels of Nitrate in potable water will cause the `Blue Baby' syndrome in infants, which alters the blood's ability to carry oxygen.

The idea behind the CGWB system was to ensure that people were given correct and accurate information that they could rely on and also educate the people about the dangers of over exploitation and contamination of water sources.

The board gas so far uploaded complete information on 22 taluks in Karnataka, including Bangalore, in the system and more will follow. The board plans to translate the information, which is now available only in English, into Kannada.

The system has been made reader friendly by including maps of  contaminated areas for every taluk and this can be easily accessed from the CGWB website.

The CGWB information states that 54 taluks have high fluoride content and 84 taluks have dangerous levels of nitrates. It lists 55 taluks as falling in the overexploited category. The situation is serious in the two districts of Kolar and Tumkur.

The CGWB says groundwater is overexploited by 190 per cent in Bangalore South, 198 per cent in Bangalore North and 206 per cent in Anekal. It classifies the whole of Bangalore as overexploited. It says the picture is disturbing in Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Nelamangala, Bangalore East (Whitefield and adjoining areas).

Apart from the CGWB, studies by the Department of Mines and Geology, Karnataka in its “Hydrology and quality of groundwater in and around Bangalore city - Review and excerpts from the report released in March 2011”, also show high levels of chemicals in the ground water.

The Karnataka study says fluoride has been  a severe problem in many areas of  Karnataka and country but never in Bangalore But, the last few years have seen fluoride entering groundwater in Bangalore though in a small way. Most of the samples tested positive for fluoride was found at Bellandur and Bidarahalli.

The study conducted special testing for heavy metals in industrial areas.

Samples from the following areas showed high levels (much above drinking water standard) of contaminants:

Zinc: Gollahalli (Bommanahalli), Hosapalya (including CMC supply), Somasundarapalya (HSR 2nd Sector), ITI Layout (Hosapalya), Anu Polymers (Rajajinagar Industrial Town), Reshma Dyeing Factory (Rajajinagar Industrial Area)

Manganese: Peenya Industrial Area (11th Cross, 4th Phase), Hegganahalli (Srigandhanagar), Hosapalya (BBMP Nursery), Rajajinagar Industrial Town (Anu Polymers), Rajajinagar (Agrahara Dasarahalli), Old Madras Road Industrial Area (Virgonagar)

Chromium: 3rd Phase Peenya Industrial Area, Peenya 2nd Stage (Adrahalli Main Road), Peenya 2nd Stage (Andrahalli Main Road, Kaverinagar), Peenya 2nd Stage (Rajagopal Nagar), Hegganahalli (Srigandhanagar), Yelahanka New Town, Rajajinagar Industrial Town (Swadesh Industrial Supplier), Rajajinagar Industrial Town (Anu Polymers).

Former Additional Chief Secretary V Balasubramanian, has gone on record pointing out that the laboratory results of the Public Health Institute and the Department of Mines and Geology have so far indicated that  52 per cent of bore well water and 59 per cent of tap water in Bangalore is not potable. More shockingly, they contain 8.4 per cent and 19 per cent Escherichia coli (E coli) bacteria respectively.

The Department of Mines report says that only 0.9 per cent of the groundwater in Bangalore is fit for consumption.

Apart from contamination, the groundwater table has fallen to 45 meters in Mahadevapura. In HSR Layout, it is 37 meters and 26 meters in Jalahalli. It has fallen to 22 meters in Laggere (West Bengaluru). 

Bengaluru East, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South and Anekal (all in Bangalore urban district) and Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Hoskote and Nelamangala (all in Bangalore Rural district) have all reported falling ground water tables.

Will water bust the Bangalore boom

One of the ablest and honest IAS officer that Karnataka has seen in recent years, V. Balasubramanian, who retired as Additional Chief Secretary, stirred a hornest’s nest when he took on the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) over the water supply needs of Bangalore and said half of Bangalore would have to be evacuated if alternate channels to supply water to Bangalore were not explored.

Mr. Balasubramaniam said the Government would have to evacuate half of Bangalore’s population in the next ten years if  steps were not taken to redress the water scarcity and other water related problems that Bangalore faces and would continue to face.
As chairman of Centre for Policies and Practices, Bangalore, the former bureaucrat cautioned the Government against taking things in a casual manner and called for urgent steps to streamline the water supply system.

He was not far off the mark. Many cities in India have had to be evacuated after the water supply system fell into disuse. In Karnataka, the city of Bijapur, saw a mass evacuation when the ingenious water system of tanks and lakes collapsed after its fall to Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1686.

Similarly, the Mughal Emperor Akbar had to abandon his pet city, Fathepur Sikri, when the water failed. Even the greatest Mughal Emperor, with untold wealth at his disposal and also served by the best and ablest minds, could not solve the water shortage.

Bangalore too could meet the same fate if the authorities to be fail to heed the warning.     
What are the factor that could lead Bangalore towards the dooms day saying ?. Well, here are some facts.

The Hesarghatta reservoir has completely dried up and the TG halli reservoir too is going the same way. The Hesarghatta first went completely dry in 1925 and the then Mysore Government took steps to provide drinking water from the Yelemallappa Chetty Tank, Byatha and Kakol Tanks. When this proved inadequate, the TG Halli was commissioned in 1933.

When TG Halli too proved inadequate, the Government decided to tap Cauvery in the 1970s. Today, Cauvery meets most of the needs of Bangalore but there can be no further drawal from Cauvery as the State has already reached the limits of water drawal prescribed for Karnataka for drinking water by the Cauvery River Water Tribunal.
Bangalore once had hundreds of lakes and today there are just a handful and even they are facing threats from urbanization and Government apathy.

Even as late as 1971, Bangalore has 260 lakes, Today, there are hardly 60 and most of them are highly polluted.  

The storm water drains are clogged and they need to be renovated and repaired. The water channels connecting the exisiting lakes need to be restored and encroachments around lakes removed. Some wetlands need to be restored.

A study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore, says many dry tanks on the outskirts of the City have been encroached upon either for real estate or for agriculture.

It says conversion of farm land and encroachment of water channels in and around wetlands have weakened connectivity between Yelchenahalli and Madivala lakes and they have almost been lost.
The Public Health Institute, and the Department of Mines and Geology, Karnataka, has shown that 52 per cent of the borewell water and 59 per cent of the tap water in Bangalore is undrinkable. Shockingly, they contain 8.4 per cent and 19 per cent E.coli bacteria respectively.

Borewells, which have proliferated in the last decade and are a major cause of deepening water table in Bangalore, can only supply contaminated water. There are more than 4 lakhs borewell and only half of them are registered. The drawal of underground water is 3.7 times more than the recharge from the city’s annual rainfall 900 mm.
No wonder, the borewells have gone deeper, up to 1,250 feet and hundreds of  borewells have become dry. Moreover, the 600 lakes of Bangalore urban district have all become sewage tanks and this is highlighted in Volume 2 of Excreta Matters published  by Centre for Science & Environment, Delhi, 2011. This is study of water of 71 cities in India.

The 850 kilometres of old Raja Kaluves or storm water drains were conceived to transport surplus water from higher elevation lakes to lower levels in the Karanji system or a cascading system of natural rain water harvesting. Instead, they now carry sewage, debris, sullage and filth. Besides, the existing fourteen Secondary treatment plants, four tertiary treatment plants and ten more STPs under construction will together have a capacity to treat 1,133 MLD of waste water. However, all the existing STPs hardly treat 30 per cent of the sewage because of sewage is not flowing into the STPs but into the lakes and other water bodies. Moreover, there is no demand for treated water and it is let back into the polluted water channels and water bodies.

The sewage has to diverted away from the Raja Kaluves and they have to be treated before being let into lakes and tanks. Only then can Raja Kaluves carry rainwater to the lakes. If not., the lakes and water bodies will continue to be cess pools of filth, debris, sewage and foul smelling liquid with high health hazard.

Rainwater harvesting is yet to take off despite a law making it mandatory. It now covers just 50,000 houses out of some 18 lakh properties. Surveys have shown that only 40 per cent of  Bangalore is covered by roofs and if rain water harvesting is to be effective, it should be done on a geographical basis covering all the four basins areas or natural valleys of Bangalore, including Vrishabhavati and  Hebbal.

The Vrishabhavati, which takes birth in Bangalore, is polluted and the river has practically died. It needs to be urgently revived if the ground water level has to be recharged. The Arkavathi, which flows near Bangalore too needs to be cleaned up.

BWSSB Chairman Gaurav Das Gupta has gone on record that the peripheral areas of Bengaluru do not and will not have water for the upcoming years.

Gaurav Gupta was speaking at a discussion on­ “The Critical water situation in Bangalore- The way forward”,  conducted by Bangalore International Centre at Domlur.

It was at this meet that Balasubramanian had spoken about the water crisis. Acknowledging the water crisis, the BWSSB Chairman himself said  “If you are thinking of  purchasing or staying in a property in Bangalore, especially in the peripheral areas and in the suburbs, take them at your own risk! We really don’t have water for those areas.”

He said there are plans to provide water for peripheral areas of Yelahanka, K R Puram and Kengeri. But beyond that the BWSSB cannot supply water.

How do you tackle these problems.

Leakages, which are almost 50 per cent, needs to be urgently plugged. Alternate sources have to be tapped and rain water harvesting should be compulsory. Encroachment of  tanks, lakes and water bodies should be removed forthwith and borewell drilling has to be regulated. Raja Kaluvas have to be restored. Only then will Balasubramaniam’s remarks remain a mere statement. If not, it will become a reality.  

Will it be Sharavathi or Yettinahole

The lakes first and Hesarghatta and Tippegondanahalli (TG Halli) quenched the thirst of Bangaloreans. When Bangalore was founded by Kempe Gowda in 1537, he conceived a system of interlinked tanks and lakes that not only provided water to the residents but also acted as a flood control mechanism.

When the British decided to shift their Cantonment from Srirangapatna to Bangalore in 1806, they realize that Bangalore did not have any natural water nearby to fulfil the water needs of a growing City. They then built the Ulsoor lake and also other water bodies such as Sankey (1882) and Millers Tanks (1873).

Soon, the Mysore Government too realised that the tanks planned by Kempe Gowda were insufficient to provide water to the pettah area and they planned the Hesarghatta reservoir across the Arvakathy.

When the Hesarghatta reservoir too failing to fully quench the thirst of Bangaloreans and drying up in 1925, the Mysore Government planned the TG Halli reservoir. Unfortunately, the Hesarghatta has completely gone dry and the TG Halli too is going the same way. The only alternative for the State Government was to tap the Cauvery which was more than 90 kilometres away from Bangalore.

With the Cauvery panel limiting the quantum of water to Bangalore, the State Government has now been left with no alternative but to look for alternatives to provide water to a city which is now the fourth largest metropolis in India.   

The State Government has now planned to reduce the dependence on Cauvery by tapping another river to provide drinking water to Bangalore and this is the Sharavathi river.  

The Sharavathi is a west flowing river which takes it birth in the Western Ghats. It is better know for being the source of Jog Falls. A high-level committee appointed by the previous Government has suggested a few days back to the present Congress Government that the Sharavathi could be harnessed to augment the exisiting water supply to Bangalore.

The committee had been appointed to identify possible water sources to redress Bangalore’s water needs.

The committee was headed by H N Thyagaraj, former chief engineer of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and it comprised ten other members.

The committee has suggested five options to the Government and of them it concluded that the Sharavathi would be the most viable one.  

What makes the Sharavathi option ideal is that its waters are mainly used for producing power and also for agriculture. If the waters are to be diverted to Bangalore, then the State must be ready to reduce the power generation from Sharavathi. So, it means bartering water for power.

Sharavathi is at least 300 kilometres away and the water will have to pass through regions at a lower elevation than Bangalore. The committee feels that water can be brought from Linganamakki reservoir that is fed by Sharavathi to Hesaraghatta reservoir in Arkavathi catchment area.

The water can then be pumped into Bangalore. The committee has also recommended the manner in which the water has to be pumped. It says water has to be pumped first from Linganamakki reservoir to Yagati, which is 130 km away. It will then be pumped into Arkavathy, 170 km away, by using gravity. Though pumping is inevitable, the power consumed will be much lesser than what is being used currently in case of pumping the Cauvery.

Since Linganamakki has a capacity of 150 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), the committee feels that at least 10 TMC could be easily pumped into Bangalore. This could be increased by 10 TMC once every ten years.

Another option is to get water from Yettinahole. This option had been suggested by the Paramashivaiah committee. The Government now has no other alternative but to tap either the Sharavathi or Yettinahole, another river which originates in the Western Ghats, for providing water to Bangalore.

The Government realises that all the four phases of Cauvery are over and the river cannot be tapped for any more water. It has to approach the World Bank or other financial institutions for finance and these institutions would fund the scheme only if the source of water is identified.  

Former BJP minister Katta Subramanya Naidu had contemplated linking the Almatti to Bangalore so that the city gets 24/7 water.

Irrigation experts point out that the entire river system of  Karnataka yields 3440 tmc ft of water and the West-flowing rivers account for 2,000 tmc ft annually and this comes to 58 per cent of the total yield. Due to the narrow coastal belt in Mangalore, Karwar and Udupi, a major portion of the water goes into the sea and it is this excess that has to be tapped.
However, tapping these waters is not technically viable or financially feasible. Besides, any such diversion could cause large scale environment harm and destroy the fragile ecology of the Western Ghats. So the best option is to only tap the west flowing rivers on the upper reaches of the Western Ghats and this would come to 0.54 tmc ft of water.

Another plus for such a diversion is that the Western Ghats report high levels of rainfall and this bounty of Nature can be tapped. However, it should not be forgotten that the Western Ghats is a biological reserve and home to thousands of animal species including at least 325 globally endangered species.

Another problem for using Yettinahole to quench Bangalore’s thirst is that it is a major tributary along with Kumaradhara of Netravathy.

Besides, the Netravathy’s origin itself is Yettinahole. It is only later that the Kumaradhara joins the river. If the Yettinahole is diverted, it means diverting the Netravathy itself. The Netravathy is the lifeline of the coast and people living there should get the first right over it.

Moreover, river water has to flow to the sea to sustain aquatic life and also to retain the ecological balance. What could be done is to reduce the excess flow into the sea and use this balance to meet Bangalore’s water needs. But, many towns and villages in Mangalore district already suffer from water shortage.  The question is how will the Government tackle this problem. There has to be a coordinated and comprehensive approach to resolve this issue.      

Reusing waste water

Even as the State Government is scrambling to come up with schemes to provide water to a parched Bangalore City and even as it is commissioning several studies, organising seminars, holding meetings and undertaking studies to search for a viable alternative to the Cauvery, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has come up with a revolutionary idea.

The BWSSB has finally realised that augmenting Bangalore’s water supply should begin at home and it has decided, albeit a little late, to resolve Bangalore’s water woes by reusing water.

Reusing or recycling natural resources has never gained popularity in India and there has not been any serious effort either by the Government or the people to reuse natural resources or recycle waste.

Water is one of the natural resources that can be easily reused. The reused water can be used for non-potable purposes like cleaning, gardening and for toilet purposes. Infact, the technology for reusing water is so good that it can even be used for drinking and  this is what the BWSSB proposes to do.

The BWSSB has drawn up a large-scale plan to reuse water. This, it feels, will not only lessen the dependence on the Cauvery but also replenish ground water levels and provide the authorities with the much needed buffer to rejig the water supply network and also provide better services.

This would perhaps be the first time in India that an urban water supply board is using treated water to augment potable water supply. Ambitiously labelled as the Vrishabhavathi Valley project and this many say is the first of its kind in India, will see 300,000m3/d of sewage effluent undergo stringent secondary treatment. The next step is to treat half of this amount with tertiary treatment before releasing it into the Arkavathy river, where it will mix with fresh water.

This combined flow will be pumped into the Tippegondanahalli (T.G. Halli) reservoir, where the water will be further treated before being distributed to the western parts of Bangalore.

The BWSSB plans to construct a 147,000m3/d ultrafiltration plant at the Tavarekere pumping station. This would be state of art project and would cost at least Rs. 474 crores (USD112 million).

Since the project has been approved under the JNNURM scheme, 50 per cent of the cost will be borne by the Governments- Central Government will bear 35 per cent and state government 15 per cent. The other 50 per cent will be borne by the BWSSB and the water board proposes to raise this amount through loans from financial institutions.

Waste water from the domestic sector or households is also known as sewage and it can generally be divided into two distinct forms:

Blackwater – which is grossly contaminated by faeces or urine; and Greywater - which is not grossly contaminated by faeces or urine.

According to water usage surveys, an average wastewater flow of

586 litres is generated per day per house hold and Grey water represents about 68 per cent of the total waste water stream. When kitchen waste water is also excluded, the percentage of grey water

becomes about 61 per cent. This shows that grey water is a recyclable water resource

The BWSSB says that 80 per cent of the City’s water is met from the Cauvery and the rest from the Arkavathy and borewells. The current water supply is in the region of 870,000m3/d, though demand exceeds 1.2 million m3/d. The shortfall is met by the 3.14 lakhs borewells and this has severely strained the ground water table.

The Board has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Co-operation Enterprise (SCE) and Temasek Foundation (TF), an investment arm of Singapore government, for recycling and reusing treated water.

The Board wants to avail of technical guidance from Singapore as it has adequate expertise in waste water treatment, recycling and re-use.

BWSSB wants to develop a project across the Vrishabhavathi Valley as it already has five sewage treatment plants along the course of the river. The Board will now have to set up a reuse treatment system.

Even the Interim Report of the Expert Committee to Assess Long Term Additional Needs of Water for Bangalore City had recommended this measure among others to ensure that excessive dependence on fresh water is reduced.

The report points out that 1520 MLD of water goes into the Valley after treatment at BWSSB treatment plants. This water could be used to recharge groundwater, supplement inflow to Arkavathy and also be used for non-potable purposes.

It also suggest dual pipelines to transport potable and non-potable water for drinking and other purposes to houses and establishments and this can substantially reduce the burden on fresh water.

Bangalore has 14 secondary sewage treatment plants (STP) and all of them operate much below capacity due to insufficient inflow. They have a collective capacity of treating 873 MLD of water.

Apart from these plants, the BWSSB is installing smaller STPs near several lakes. But, Bangalore uses less than 7 MLDs of treated water. There is thus scope for larger use of recycled water. This is really ironical considering that Bangalore’s first sewage network was developed as early as 1922 but the treatment of waste water started only in 1974.

Pumping crores down the ground

There has been a hue and cry over the increasing gap between demand and supply of water to Bangalore and  there have been hundreds of experts who have gone into the issue, making a variety of suggestions and mooting several steps to tackle the issue. On its part, the State Government and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) too have constituted committees, held discussions, seminars and workshops and even explored the possibility of bringing rivers from far away, including the Krishna, to Bangalore to tide over the widening demand-supply position.

However, what many forget is that instead of going in for such elaborate and highly expensive measures, a more cost effective and more long term plan can be implemented by the BWSSB on its own. There has been loud thinking on the part of the Government and others to harness West-flowing rivers such as Kanganahole, Kakkatuhole and Ethinahole to augment water supply to Bangalore and there was even a thinking to bring water from Almatti dam in Bagalkot district to the city.

These solutions are a logistic nightmare and needs years to fructify, Instead, the existing water supply network can be streamlined and all its needs is a just a little political will and bureaucratic determination.

Every Bangalore knows that the Cauvery today is the  lifeline of the City. It meets nearly 75 per cent of Bangalore’s water supply and with the Hesarghatta and TG Halli reservoirs failing to fill up, the Cauvery and groundwater apart from Arkavathy are the only solution.

One of the easiest steps to pump in more water to quench Bangalore’s thirst is to plug the leakages. Unfortunately, the leakage, which can be classified as unaccounted water, is 43 per cent and this is among the highest in India. 

The Cauvery is supplying 1,410 million litres a day (MLD) to Bangalore and of this only 550 MLD is billed, leaving 509 MLD as “unaccounted-for water (UFW). Of the total unaccounted water, an estimated 35 per cent is due to leakage from and in water supply pipes.

Another worrying statistics is that unaccounted water has increased from 16 per cent (62 MLD) in 1990 to 48 per cent (509 MLD) in 2007 and this year too it has increased. 

What further compounds BWSSB’s misery is that it  costs Rs. 300 crore annually in electricity charges for it to pump Cauvery water from TK Halli.( Buster pumps lift water at Harohalli and Thataguni water stations before pumping the Cauvery to the  Ground level reservoirs at Bangalore). This means close to Rs. 100 crores is lost every year with the water literally going down the drain. Moreover, the power required to transport the water from TK Halli consumes 75 per cent of the board’s revenues.

Over the years or rather decades that the BWSSB has been in existence, if we calculate the total wastage of water, it crosses a mind boggling Rs.1,000 crores and this amount has literally gone down the drain.     

The unaccounted water in Bangalore is the fourth highest among cities in India. Can Bangalore and the water board afford this? 
Of the 1410 MLD that is currently being pumped into Bangalore, the BWSSB has set apart 150 MLD for industries, 750 for domestic water consumption, leaving 55 MLD unaccounted. This means that each person in Bangalore today gets only 75 litres per capita per day (LPCD) as against the Centre’s norm of 150 LPCD. With Bangalore’s registering a minimum population growth of four percent every year, the gap between supply and demand will go up and the BWSSB will struggle to even maintain the current level of 75 LPCD. This against the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) stipulated requirement of 150 LPCD.

So where exactly is the loss of water. According to BWSSB itself and also according to several surveys and reports, the water loss between TK Halli at the Cauvery point and the bulk storage reservoirs at 55 ground level (reserviors) main receiving stations in Bangalore is around 2.8 per cent. This is apart from the 47 overhead tanks. Besides, the loss in the bulk supply pipelines from all the four Cauvery staged which add up to 250 km in length is also negligible. When the water is treated at the in the sand bed filters at BWSSB pump houses and the leaks at valves account for 3 per cent. This means that almost 40 per cent of the leakage is at the distribution system of  pipelines which cover 5101 kilometres.

The first major water pipeline network in the Pettah or petes (Old Bangalore areas) was commissioned in 1922 and they are almost a hundred years old. A vast network of this pipeline needs to be urgently replaced and the new generation pies can not only saved leakage but also lead to better distribution pattern.  The new pipes can supply water at constant pressure and maintain the level of supply, which the old pipes cannot.

Another disquiet is the high cost of water production and supply in Bangalore. It is the highest in the country at Rs. 23.13 per kilolitre and this is several times higher than what Mumbai pays Rs. 2.17 per kilolitre and Chennai Rs. 5.73 per kilolitre.

The first step for the board would be to reducing leakage in 6.7 lakh water connections. The leakage at these points is estimated  at anything between fifteen per cent to thirty per cent.

There are several other steps though which have to be taken along with repair and replacement of old pipelines. The lakes and water bodies have to be revived and latest statistics reveal that 602 lakes and tanks have turned into sewage pits, the storm water drain network of 856 kilometres needs to be cleared of debris, silt and filth. The borwells need to be recharged and there is a need to cap drilling of more borewells. Rainwater harvesting (less than a lakh houses-not apartments and flats out of 18.10 lakhs properties-have gone in for rainwater harvesting) should be strictly implemented and water should be metered at all places and regular water audits held to pinpoint any major source of leaks. 

Can we see the authorities go in for immediate measures than float nebulous ideas and those which require huge sums of money. Why waste the tax payers money on fancy schemes of bringing in more water when the distribution network cannot take the existing load itself.   

Exhausting the Cauvery

Even as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are getting set to engage in another prolonged battle over the sharing of the Cauvery water,  another little known fact has been completely glossed over and this directly affects the water supply to Bangalore.

Bangalore, as we all know, alone requires 1400 million liters of water per day or eighteen thousand million cubic feet (TMC) every day. Unfortunately, Karnataka can draw only 682.5 million litres a day as per the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

There is no way Karnataka can unilaterally increase its drawal from the Cauvery. The tribunal has allocated only 8.75 TMC for the entire urban and rural population in Cauvery basin in Karnataka.

One TMC equals 78 MLD and if you take this calculation, Bangalore city itself is already drawing more water than the entire allocation. So the question is how is the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which is the nodal agency for supply of water to Bangalore and surrounding areas, going to deal with the issue.

There is another peculiar problem. Bangalore city comes under two river basins-Cauvery and Pennaiyar. Only Cauvery basin areas of Bangalore can receive Cauvery water and this means that only half of the Bangalore is eligible for Cauvery as the rest fall under the Pennaiyar basin.

Bangalore has over 7 lakh water connections or consumers and a majority of them are supplied water from the Cauvery. Borewell accounts for 20 per cent to 25 per cent of water supplied and the Arkavathy, including TG Halli, a much smaller percentage.

The City has over 500 kilometers of water pipelines, apart from 250 kilometres of bulk supply lines that carry Cauvery water from all the four stages.  The Cauvery is transported over a distance of 95 kilometres from its source in Kanakapura taluk-Thorekadananhall- to Bangalore city.

Apart from the waters of the Cauvery, the borewells today supply 300 MLD of water and there are 312,000 borewells today and their numbers are increasing. The unchecked growth of borewells has led to a situation where the ground water level has depleted and it is common in almost all areas of Bangalore to drill more than 1200 feet to obtain good water.

Since all the water lines are interlinked, the question is how is the BWSSB going to delink the Cauvery basin areas of Bangalore from the non-basin areas and how will the other half get its share of water.

If and when the tribunal decided to enforce its order or if Tamil Nadu decided to take this issue up in a serious manner, what will Karnataka do. Should they not strive for a viable alternative.

With the Cauvery now no longer available for drawal of water, the State Government must act now itself to find other sources to quench Bangalore’s growing thirst for water. Or else Bangalore will face the same fate as Fathepur Sikri, near Agra, did after the Mughal Emperor Akber built it in 1569. The only other example of a City falling off the urban landscape due to severe water shortage apart from Fathepur Sikri is Bijapur in north Karnataka. After Bijapur fell to the Mughals in 1686, it soon turned into a ghost city after a series of famines, drought and severe water scarcity ravaged the province.

Coming back to Bangalore and its water supply, as it is, the gap between demand and supply of water has been increasing and the BWSSB has not been able to close the gap.

The per capita water supply that BWSSB provides is 100 to 125 liters per capital per day. However, the actual availability of water to slums and poor areas is as low as 40 to 45 liters per day. This when the per capita national standard is 150 to 200 liters per day

One of the best ways to solve the water woes is to plug the leakages which is as high as 40 per cent from the Cauvery water supply schemes only, meter the water outlets and introduce water auditing. Other measures such as rain water harvesting, recycling of water and better storage and conservation techniques can go a long extent in improving the water supply position.

But the first and foremost solution would be to revive the many tanks and lakes in and around Bangalore, desilt the storm water drains, clean encroachments from water bodies, tank beds and raja kaluves and also reintroduce the City’s lost greenery.   

However, the basic question here is how long can we turn a blind eye to the final report of the tribunal and continue to draw more water to Bangalore than it has been allocated. What happens if the tribunal decides to enforce the order.

Bangalore, therefore, has no go but to seek alternate avenues of augmenting its water supply even as it reduces or minimizes its dependence on the Cauvery.    

The waters that go down the drain

One of the most frequent and devastating natural disasters that India has had to face for several decades now and almost regularly is floods.

The floods may be due to a variety of reasons-cloudburst, heavy rains, washing away of bunds or even the phenomenon of urban flooding. The flooding seems to be in almost all parts pf the country and in almost all the states, including Karnataka and its capital Bangalore.  

While Bangalore never had to face the flooding that other parts of India sees or what just Uttarakhand just saw, it is the prime example of how unplanned activities can lead Nature to take its revenge  and this is  shown by frequent flooding of  Bangalore.

Bangalore’s streets and many low-laying localities, particularly in the and around the Koramangala-Challaghatta valley record regular incidents of urban flooding, inundating localities, washing away wife and property, flooding roads and lanes and eventually leading to overflow of storm water drains.

Flooding in Bangalore may seem strange as it is not near any sea, river or ocean like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai. However, the death of the City’s only river-Vrishabhavathi-and the flow of sewage into it which till date remains unchecked has contributed greatly to the imbalance in outflow of water from the city.

The Vrishabhavati is chocked with debris, garbage, filth and most of all silt in several places and this has blocked the effective flow of water. A minor tributary of Arkavathy, this river flows in Bangalore and even till the 1970s it supplied water for domestic, industrial and no-potable purposes to people living adjacent to it, including several villages.

The Vrishabhavathi is joined by Survanavathi at the junction of Gali Anjeneya Temple on Mysore road but today neither of the rivers exist. Both are filled with sludge and sewage and even fishes and /or any marine life cannot survive. The oxygen levels in these waters are almost non-existent and poison gas and chemicals make up a large percentage, posing a danger to those living nearby.

The chemicals in the water also pollute the ground water and make them unfit for drinking. The destruction of the Vrishabhavathi is directly due to the unprecedented growth of domestic, commercial and industrial activities and the increased generation of  foul, waste and sewage water.

Studies of water bodies, tanks and drainage of Bangalore by IISC, Bangalore University, ISRO, BWSSB, Central Ground Water Board, Central Water Commission and independent studies have said that the watershed has to be preserved , protected and nurtured if the ecology of water management of Bangalore, which has gone haywire, has to be set back into place.

The total catchment area of Vrishabhavathi is estimated to be a little over 350 square kilometers. The length of Vrishabhavathi river from Peenya, where it is said to originate-another myth is it originates near Bugle rock in Basavanagudi- to the

place where it joins Suvarnamukhi in Bangalore urban district is about 52.5  kilometre.

During summer or dry seasons, the water flow in the Vrishabhavathi is reduced and more than 300 MLD of domestic sewage flows into it. This is further compounded by the discharge of upto 10 MLD industrial and chemical waste.

The failure of the civic agencies and the Government in taking a tough and uncompromising stand against such pollution as also its failure to stand firm against encroachment, particularly of wetlands tanks and storm water drains, has only worsened matters.

The story of another of Bangalore’s river-Arkavathi-is also frighteningly similar. The Arkavathy takes birth at a small pond in the Channakesava Hills adjoining Nandi Hills or the Nandidoorga range of hills.

Arkavathy tumbles down the hill and drains into the Chikkarayyappanhalli Kere. This is the first of the many tanks or reserviors built to hold the waters of the Arkavathy which then empties into several smaller lakes and forms the Nagarkere in Doddaballapur.

The Nagarkere was once upon a time sufficient to meet the drinking water needs of the entire Doddaballapur town and surrounding villages. The command area of the tank was 60

hectares. It had a storage storage capacity of 2.27 million cubic

metre (Mcum) but it is today reduced to just 1.5 Mcum, thanks to silt, bad management and encroachment.

Then comes the 6.89 km Hesarghatta lake, built by the Wodeyar Kings to supply drinking water to Bangalore, Today, this tank is almost dry and ironically villages on the periphery of this once magnificent water body are facing a severe water shortage.

What many are not aware of is that a smaller tank did exist at the place where the Hesarghatta stands today. This small stone structure to hold water was built during the reign of the Vijayanagar Emperor Achutadeva Raya. It was in 1894 that this water body was enlarged.

We can say that Hesarghatta became the first external source of water supply to Bangalore which till then met its needs from local lakes and tanks such as Dharmambudhi tiull 1895, Ulsoor till the 1960s, Sankey and Millers tanks. It was way back in 1989 that the Hesarghatta reservoir overflowed its bund. Since then, it has been downhill for this waterbody.

The Arkavathy then comes down from Hesarghatta and joins the Kumudavathy at Tippegondanahalli or TG Halli. The Arkavathy moves further on and where the Kumudvathy merges with is the second large reservoir built for Bangalore city’s water in 1934. This reservoir, conceived by Sir M. Visveshvaraiah, once supplied 135 million litres of water daily to Bangalore but not any more. Its catchment area is 1,453 sq. kms., and covers parts of Doddaballapur, Nelamangala, Devanahalli, Magadi and Bangalore north taluks

While the Hesarghatta has remained dry for several years now, the TG halli has rarely filled up in recent years, leaving Bangalore at the mercy of the Cauvery for water supply.

Thus our ancestors had once planned Arkavathy as a cascading system of holding water and fulfilling the needs of not only Bangalore but villages and towns enroute to Bangalore. If the tank overflowed or filled to the brim, water would naturally floe into the next tank. However, the cascade system-there are 1,084 tanks along the riverway till T.G. Halli-has been ruptured and none of the lakes lakes in the Arkavathy basin are full.

This shows our failure to arrive at a sustainable river and catchment management plan. If quarrying is the main threat to the free flow of Arkavathy, encroachment, apathy and wanton urbanization are sounding the deathknell for  Bangalore’s fragile water bodies.

The average annual rainfall in and around Bangalore city or urban area is estimates at a little over  66,400 hectares metres (ham) and of this the Geological Survey of India has calculated that 17,000 ham is runoff water. The ground water recharge is just 3290 ham and this means that over 71 per cent of rain water is lost due to various reasons, including evapotranspiration or ET which is the  the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the land surface to atmosphere.

Interpolate this aspect with the Cauvery water supply to Bangalore. The BWSSB is able to pump in annually 24,923 ham as against the demand of 48,600 ham. Besides, the city today has close to 3.5 lakhs borewells supplying 12,500 ham, leaving a shortage of over 12,000 ham.

The best way to meet or make up for this shortage is to harness the water potential in storm water drains. The storm water discharge is pegged at 17,040 ham and this is apart from the sewage flow of  26,316 ham. If all this water is treated, there is no reason for Bangalore to suffer any water shortage and this hold true even when the Sun shines brightly and Bangaloreans sweat it out in scorching summer.  
(This is the fourth in the series of posts on Urban flooding and Bangalore.) 

Where have our lakes gone

Bangalore is a city which is full of surprises. The modern exists, perhaps a little uneasily, with the ancient. Though the urban onslaught on the history and heritage of the history continues, there is growing concern about the need to preserve, protect and even nurture our heritage.

Today, Bangalore is fortunate in having a vocal and growing group of conservationists and urban historians who leave no stone unturned to halt the senseless march of modernity and crass commercialization of the vast open spaces, water bodies, wet lands and green cover.

There have been umpteen number of surveys, studies, research papers, seminars and committees that have gone into and even at this point of time are seized with the issue of decreasing green cover of Bangalore and shrinking water bodies. But what is surprising is that within the Government and its agencies itself, there is no unanimity on a number of issue, including the number of tans and lakes in and around Bangalore.

It is really surprising that no less than sixteen different agencies of the State own or have a right over these water bodies and they range from our very own Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Urban Jilla Panchayat, Bangalore Rural Jilla Panchayat, Forest Department, Fisheries Department, Minor Irrigation Department, Horticulture Department and even Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWSSB), Lake Development Authority (LDA) and a few other departments too.

This multiplicity of ownership has resulted in a very peculiar situation with each having its own census and results of tanks and water bodies in Bangalore and around the city.

Thus if Bangalore City has a few active lakes such as Ulsoor, Madivala, Sankey, Yediyur, greater Bangalore area of which Bangalore is a part has many more.

Greater Bangalore comes under the aegis of the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) and its jurisdiction covers both Bangalore urban and rural districts and also parts of Kolar, Chikaballapur, Ramanagar and even Tumkur districts. Thus, BMRDA boundaries are bigger than BBMP boundaries. The BDA too has its own jurisdiction and it too manages a few tanks. 

To add to this confusion, we have the urban and rural jilla panchayats of Bangalore and both have their own records of tanks and lakes.

The many local bodies in and around Bangalore such as Anekal, Hoskote, Kanakapura, Magadi, Bidadi too have their own water bodies and some of them are directly under their control. 

Apart from these civic agencies, the departments such as Agriculture Horticulture, Fisheries, Minor Irrigation, Major Irrigation, Urban Development also have tanks under their jurisdiction.

Thus, we get a variety of agencies involved in the management and protection of water bodies. No wonder, there seems to be no common programme among the agencies or coordination among them to protect the water bodies and each has its own programme, plan and agenda. Thus, the lakes keep disappearing and the money spent in cleaning up one lake goes down the drain as other water body either upstream or downstream is not cleaned.  

If we go by the Government’s own surveys, we get varying estimates of the number of tanks and lakes in and around Bangalore. A case in this is the BBMP whose jurisdiction extends over almost 800 square kilometer which has 183 lakes. Of them, BBMP has jurisdiction over 55 lakes only and 123 water bodies have been handed over to the BDA for management and protection. The BDA has already taken up the development of 123 lakes in three phases, with an estimated cost of Rs159.71 crore even as the BBMP has its own programme. .

One of the earliest  surveys of lakes and tanks in and around Bangalore was undertaken during the time of Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), the ruler of Mysore. This survey was undertaken in 1791 and it was taken up in a scientific manner that had not been done earlier.

In this survey, the lakes were measured, the survey number on which they stood and the tanks beds numbered, their description entered into the revenue records and steps taken to keep them clean and rain fed. The first few man made lakes in Bangalore such as Kempambudhi owe their existence to Kempe Gowda.

After the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799, Bangalore came under both Wodeyar and British rule and both took steps to augment water supply to Bangalore by building new lakes and tanks and renovating and repairing the existing water bodies.

Many of the lakes constructed by the British,Wodeyars and Kempe Gowda are either gone or are on the verge of extinction. The Minor Irrigation Department, a wing of the Government, which took up a survey of water bodies in Bangalore urban district said there are 608 tanks and lakes of all sizes and shapes and they have a command area of 12,877 hectares with a irrigation potential of 13004 hectares.

However, figures of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics contradoict the Minor Irrigation Department figures. They claim that there were only 652 tanks and lakes and that they have remained the same over the years.

The data in the Season and Annual Crop Report of the Government of Karnataka and the census carried out by the Minor Irrigation Department also do not match each other’s figures. Surprisingly, a report of the Lake Development Authority, which again is a government agency, claims that were 261 lakes in Bangalore till 1961 and that their numbers declined to 81 in 1986. Even the Lakshman Rau report, widely considered to be one of the best such reports, says there were 369 lakes and tanks in Bangalore metropolitan in 1984. The Lakshman Rau report is based on the Comprehensive development plan (CDP)  of BDA. These lakes accounted for 20.60 per cent of the Bangalore Urban and rural districts put together and 59.66 per cent of urban district in 1986-87.

Of the 389 lakes, 262 were in green belt area covering 839.72 sq kms and 127 in non-urban areas covering 449 sq kms.

As per the report, Bangalore north had 61 lakes, south had 98, Anekal 44, Hoskote 23, Magadi 11, Nelamangala 13 and Devanahalli 12 lakes.

An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) survey has put the number of lakes in Bangalore urban and rural districts at 1888 and in BDA area at 608 with a water spread of 4573 hectares. This is exactly the same as the number of lakes pegged by the Minor Irrigation Department in its survey of  1986-87. 

Before 1986, Bangalore lakes were under the jurisdiction of sixteen departments, including defence, jilla panchayat, BDA, BWSSB, BMP, HAL, Horticulture, Fisheries and Minor Irrigation departments.

Strangely, while the agencies dealing with lakes and tanks have gone up, the number of tanks have come down from 262 in 1960 to 81 in 1986 and 61 in 2006.This means 195 tanks have disappeared from the surface. Where have they gone and which survey do we depend on?

With the lakes and their renovation getting short shrift, Bangalore looks headed for an ecological disaster, the likes of which it had never ever even contemplated. Apart from urban flooding, mismanagement of the inland water system has already led to severe water shortage, depleting water levels, contamination of eater sources and a higher level of stress on Bangalore’s aging water supply system.

The best solution would be to recharge the lakes, clear the storm water drians of all encroachments and ensure that there is no further encroachment of water body. Urban planning has to factor the water bodies and their preservation which so far Bangalore has failed to do.

(This is the third of the article on Bangalore flooding and urban planning)