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.

Decades later, water in Hesarghatta

This was once part of the famed Vijayanagar Empire and the Vijayanagar Emperor, Achutedeva Raya had commissioned a man made tank here.

The Emperor had constructed an anecut and a bund across a river flowing here. He also built an agrahara or a settlement to house Brahmins and priests. This was sometime in 1532.

Inscriptions dating back to the Vijayanagar period tells us that the anecut was built on the banks of the Arkavathi river and a temple for Chandramoulishwara constructed.

When the Agrahara became populated, it was called Siva Samudra Agrahara.
A few years later, Kempe Gowda, the founder of  Bangalore received this Agrahara and Bangalore along with twelve hoblis from the Vijayanagar Emperor.

Kempe Gowda then went on to form the province of Bangalore and Siva Samudra Agrahara was part of it. Over centuries, the small tank served the water needs of the people, catering to the  domestic and irrigation needs of the area.

During the time of  Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the Agraha came to be more popularly known as Hesarghatta. During the Wodeyar rule, the small tank was upgraded into a major water supply project.

Recommissioned in 1894, the manmade reservoir was expected to meet the drinking water needs of Bangalore. The credit for this project, called Chamarajendra Water works, goes to the then Diwan of Mysore, Seshadri Iyer and the then Chief Engineer of Mysore State, M.C. Huthcins.

Once the TG Halli became operational, Hesarghatta was neglected and it was in 1994 that it last filled up. Since then, there has not been any water in the vast lake except in a few patches.

Thankfully, this year has seen copious rains in Karnataka and other parts of the country. The rains have led to the Hesraghatta Lake showing signs of revival and today it holds around eight feet of water. This may not mean much as the reservoir can hold upto thirty five feet of water but the fact that water has started flowing indicates that the water body, one given up for dead, can be revived.

If the State Government and the authorities are serious about ensuring that the water once again continues to flow into the reservoir, they have to clear the encroachments, repair the infrastructure in and round the reservoir, revive the water source and clear the water channels.   

The total catchment area draining into the reservoir is 73.84 km2 (2189 mi2), out of which the direct draining catchment is 2.68 km2 (6.86 sq mi2). There are 184 tanks built in the Arkavathy river basin upstream of the Hesaraghatta. These needs to be revived.

The Arkavaty originates in the Nandi Hills in Chikaballapur district and it joins the Cauvery in Kanakapura after flowing through Kolar and Bangalore rural districts. The Vrishabhavaty and the Suvarnamukhi are the tributaries which drain part of Bangalore and Anekal taluks into the Arkavati River.

All these needs to be taken into consideration for reviving the Hesarghatta.

By the way, there is a Government plan to pump water from Ethinahole to the Hesarghatta and TG Halli reservoirs. This is the plan of the Urban Development Department.

These two reservoirs were Bangalore’s major source of drinking water until the Cauvery project was implemented in 1971.

The Urban Development Department wants to go ahead with the project and the Water Resources Department has agreed to give 2.5 tmcft of water from Ethinahole. This water would be pumped to TG Halli and Hesaraghatta lakes, be treated and then it will be pumped to the city.

For this to be effective, Hesaraghatta  has to be restored before water is pumped into it. The water holding, pumping and supply infrastructure in Hesarghatta has not been used since 1986.

When Hesarghatta supplied water, it was initially taken by gravity through a 1.4 m dia (42" dia) Hume pipe to the Soladevanahalli pumping station. Water was then pumped, initially using steam pumps and later electric pumps, to the Combined Jewel Filters (CJF) plant at Malleswaram  for treatment and supply.

The pipes must have rusted and broken down at some places. There is need to repair the existing pipes and also lay new ones if the Urban Development Department wants to reuse the Hesarghatta for water supply.

The department scheme envisages pumping water from the west-bound Ethinahole river through canals to a collection centre near Sakaleshpura. From there, the water would be allowed to flow in an open canal till Tumkur and the BWSSB will pump the water to TG Halli and Hesaraghatta reservoir from there.

At present, 19 tmcft of water has been allocated from the Cauvery and the BWSSB has the capacity to supply 1,400 MLD of water from all the five Cauvery drinking water projects. The available water is expected to meet the city’s demand till 2015

Is the water in Hesarghatta a sign for urban planners that all is not lost and that there is still hope for reviving the lakes and water bodies in and around Bangalore. The answer is yes and it is high time that the Government and urban planners launched along term plan involving people, Government agencies and NGOs to bring back water naturally to habitations. 

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.  

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.

Destroying what they seek to protect

Environmentalists, nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts, including wildlife photographers, are generally a vocal bunch and time and again they have made the Government and authorities sit up and take notice of the continued assault on Nature and the damage to ecology and environment.

These people have done and even now are doing yeomen service to mankind by bringing to light and of course to print the many adverse affects that lopsided and short sighted Government policies and decision have on the flora and fauna of a place.

The recent floods in Uttarakhand in north India and the floods that ravaged several parts of Karnataka a few years ago and the floods of Bangalore in 2005 all go to show how Nature can retaliate when we show scant respect to her.

Nature and wildlife enthusiasts and of course wildlife photographers have been in the forefront of several agitations, movements and legal battles to preserve, protect and nurture the fragile environment of  several places in Karnataka, including the remaining patches of green and wet lands in and around Bangalore.

It is due to the tireless efforts of such people, the judiciary and the media that Bangaloreans were made aware of the steady encroachment of lakes and tanks, the disappearance of wildlife from Bangalore and also the areas where some of the most endangered species still continue to live.

Even as we have to appreciate the efforts of the photographers in giving voice to Nature and taking on the establishment, they seem to be oblivious to the damage they themselves are doing to the flora and fauna they seek to protect.

Two such instances would be enough to suffice and the main culprits here are Nature and wildlife photographers and those who want a closer glimpse of the wildlife.

There has been much hue and cry over the drying up of the vast Hesarghatta lake, a manmade reservoir 18 kms north-west of Bangalore.

The lake was built in 1894 across the Arkavathy to meet the drinking water needs of  Bangalore and it was conceived by then Dewan of Mysore State, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer,  and the then Chief Engineer of  Mysore, M. C. Hutchins.

It was meant to store a three-years' water supply to the city. The reservoir last filled up in 1994 and since then it has steadily degraded into a grassland bereft of water. Since July 2009, the lake has bee completely dry.

However, the vast grasslands of the lake provide a perfect home for several species of birds and smaller wildlife, including reptiles like snakes. The rich wildlife has been attracting more and more Nature lovers and wildlife photographers.

With the lake completely drying up, the BWSSB too withdrew security and now any body and every body can visit the dry lake and walk across it. Unfortunately, the lax security has led to more and more photographers and visitors coming to the lake and driving across it in their vehicles, perusing the birds, chasing them all for a “shot”.

Studies have indicated that over the last five years, an increasing and more persistent breed of bird photographers drive on the lake bed chasing these avian creatures. The vehicle chase not only damages the soil and causes soil erosion, it also destroys the grass and burns out the green, leaving patches of car tracks and paths.

The bird watchers and photographers, in their urge to get closer to the birds, chase them from one place to another tiring them out. The same is the case with smaller wildlife that live around the grassland. The grasslands today no longer are inviting to water birds but still a variety of  birds such as eagles, harriers, falcons, kites, bulbuls.  kestrel, flycatchers, quails, magpie robins, egrets, mynas, pipits, coucals, bush chats, Indian peafowl, Sunbirds, cuckoo, wren warblers and larks can be commonly spotted.

It may sound unbelievable but true that the grassland has documented records of sighting more than 2010 water birds belonging to 29 species.

The now extinct lake has also reported sightings of some winter birds such as  Harriers and Spotted Eagles.

Earlier, it was thought that poaching and bird catching are the main dangers in these grasslands but today it is the photographers who are posing the main threat to the habitat.

Another similar threat has been reported from Ramanagar. Located 50 kms from Bangalore this bustling town is known for its rocks  and it is home to many  birds like long-billed vulture, egyptian vulture, yellow-throated bulbul.
The country’s first vulture sanctuary came up in and around the popularly known Sholay rocks covering 346.14 hectares. The sanctuary is actually located in Ramadevara betta where the shooting of the Hindi film Sholay starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jaya Bahaduri, Hemamalini, Amjad Khan, Asrani  took place.
Unfortunately, climbers and trekkers apart from photographers and nature lovers climb the rocks and when they spot these vultures and other birds, they move in for a closer peek and a photo. The vultures, cry in alarm and fly away.

Thus, the very people who have brought wildlife closer to our homes are now disturbing the habitat of the very endangered species that they seek to protect.

While there is no need to ban such activities, there is a crying need to exercise self restraint while indulging in wildlife photography, trekking and nature walks so that the flora and fauns are left undisturbed.  

Foaming with chemicals and detergents

Very few cities in the world have the distinction of  having a foaming and frothing tank and also a river. Bangalore has this dubious distinction and what is more the foam and froth is a perennial sight.

It may sound unbelievable but the lake is the biggest in Bangalore and till a few year ago, it boasted of a thriving fish market on its shores or bund and it irrigated large lands apart from  meeting the drinking water needs of  thousands of Bangaloreans. Today, all this is a thing of the past and the vast water body is so full of detergents, chemicals and silage that it is always in a state of foaming.

Similarly, the river, once the pride of Bangalore, is a vicious cesspool and almost al of Bangalore’s wastes, industrial effluents, debris, filth have choked it, making it more of a drain.

The river is Vrishabhavati, which originates in Peenya and flows for about 52 kilometres before joining the Arkavathy. The total catchment area of Vrishabhavati is estimated to be about 350 sq.km. A perennial channel of waste water, during summers it almost entirely carries sewage, both industrial and domestic from south west parts of Bangalore apart from industrial effluents from industries located in the vicinity.

The quantity of domestic sewage entering the Vrishabhavati is around 290 MLD and industrial effluents 10 MLD. Thus the total

flow during summers into the river is estimated at about 300 MLD.

No wonder, the river is now almost dead though insensitive politicians and an equally inept bureaucracy coupled with greedy encroachers continue making crores by promising to clean up the river and revive it and floating schemes after schemes, none of which seem to work.

This is the unfortunate scenario of  two of Bangalore’s best known water bodies-the Bellandur lake and Vrishabhavati river. Both today are the best examples of  foolish and mindless urban planning and a perfect tribute to the shortsightedness of man.

As late as the 1970s, the Vrishabhavati gently flowed across several localities of Bangalore and scores of villages, provided drinking water and even gave people a variety of aquatic and marine life. Even the scholarly Madhwa or Dwaitha saint, Vyasa Raja or Vysas Raya who was the preceptor of no less than six Vijayanagar Emperors, was so charmed by the rover that he consecrated one of  his by now legendary 732 Hanuman temples on its bank and this is today the Gali Anjeneya Temple.     

Though the Gali Anjeneya Temple is a landmark of Bangalore and it is visited by thousands of people every day, even it has not been spared the angst of being bathed in Vrishabhavati during the rainy season. Unfortunately, the Vrishabhavati at that point is nothing but a mass of poison, industrial effluent, untreated chemicals, waste and raw sewage. It seems even God cannot help our Vrishabhavati and this really seems ironical as Hanuman is the Monkey God who could move mountains, fly across oceans and during a childish prank alarm the Sun by trying to swallow it. But Bangaloreans have outdone this God by bathing him regularly with sewage. Oh, God, what other instance of Urban crassness carelessness is required, you may well ask, for not even having spared God and his abode.

The Vrishabhavati meandered through several villages such as Bhyremangala, Ittamadu, Chowkahalli, Shanamangala, Ramanahalili, Seshagirihalli, Gopalahalli and many other hamlets, giving free water to the people. Now, it can give only smell, disease and revulsion. 

If the Vrishabhavati at the Gali Anjeneya Temple is perhaps the most despicable act of Bangaloreans, there is more shame to follow. Go down the Mysore Road and at Bidadi take the road to Byremangala lake. This lake was constructed in 1940 at a distance of 30 kilometres from Bangalore to hold excess water from the Vrishabhavati. This water fed households and catered to agricultural needs of  a dozen villages.

Walk down the bund of the lake and when you approach the sluice gates you will be stunned to see a frothing mass being discharged. This is the water that is being used to grow vegetables and which we now eat. Take a look at how the once beautiful water now sprays detergent and chemicals.

If this is not enough,  take a look at the water almost opposite the course of the Vrishabhavati. This is the once clean Bellandur lake which catered to the needs of not only Bellandur but as many as sixteen villages just two decades ago. Today, the Bellandur lake foams so often that the sight is now more disgusting and disturbing than bizarre.

Once an integral part of Bellandur drainage system that drains the southern and the southeastern parts of the city, the water body today is almost dead and gone. The lake is a receptor from three chains of lakes upstream and it spread over a huge area. It has a catchment area of about 148 square kilometres (37,000 acres) falls over 41 wards of BBMP.

When Bellandur overflowed, water flowed east to the Varthur lake which is seven kms away, from where it flows down the plateau and eventually into the Pinakani river basin.

Just a decade ago, residents of Bellandur and visitors to the lake saw plenty of King Cobras and other wildlife like king fishers, parrots, parakeets, wood pigeons, kites, cobras, rat snakes and  monitor lizards apart from hares, frogs, several species of  fishes, ants, earthworms, all of which have now disappeared.

The only species of fish you can spot in the oily smelly water of the lakes is Tileapia and Catfish.

By the way, if you want to see the magnificent King Cobra in the wild, the best bet is Agumbe which is several hundred kilometers away. See just what urbanization has done to Bangalore. Not only has it driven away water but t has also compelled the original King to migrate to safer places. Is it worth paying such a price?.

What is shocking is that more than 412 million litres of untreated sewage per day is being let into this lake and there seems to be no end in sight to this degradation.

Spread over 950 acres, this lake was the lifeline of  scores of villages and till the 1908s supplied potable water to residents of Bellandur,  Yamlur, Belur, Gunjur, Kudlu, Haralur, Aambalapura,  Balagere, Nagasandra, Hanathuru, Devara Bisanahalli, Kadu Bisanahalli, Kempapura, Ramagondinahalli, Siddapura, Munne Kolalu, Kariyammana Agrahara and  Bhoganahalli.

Now, it receives sewage from Ulsoor Lake, Chellaghatta Valley, Hulimavu, Doddbegur drain, Madivala Lake, Tavarrrakere, Bellandur and surrounding areas which then enter Varthur lake and further to Kudlu, Kasavanhalli, Karalur, Parapnagar and Swalakeara lakes.

With a length of  three kms and 2.75 kms in width, Bellandur is  one of the largest man-made lakes in South East Asia. Alas, what a fall to this water body. 

Strangely, the decline of both the water bodies almost coincided and it all began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This was when a prolonged drought in and around Bangalore dried up lakes and tanks beds and an insensitive Government gave away these lands and civic agencies such as KHB and BDA formed layouts and sites. 

How Cauvery came to Bangalore

When Indian attained Independence, the Civil and Military Station or rather Cantonment area which was controlled by the British and the Pettah or Pete area of Bangalore came to be merged under a single entity called Bangalore City Corporation.

The State Government passed an act merging both the municipalities of the Civil and Military Station and the Pettah areas. One of the first acts of the now undivided Municipality as also the Government was to come up with a viable, fool proof and long term water supply to Bangalore.

Then, Bangalore was being supplied water from the TG Halli, Hesarghatta and several tanks and lakes. By then, the Dharmambudhi tank had already dried up and the erstwhile municipality had allotted sites to people on its tank bed. The dry tank was being used as an open ground where national leaders like Gandhi, Nehru gave speeches and exhibitions and circuses were being held.

The British had constructed Millers and Sankey tanks to supply drinking water to Bangalore. Constructed in 1882, Sankey tank then cost Rs 5,75,000. It was linked to the Miller's tank and also Dharmambudhi tank.  The Millers tank was really huge. It too was supplying drinking water and residents preferred this water to Sankey as the quality was much better.

The Government decided to go in for a more reliable source of water to Bangalore. Even as discussions were on about which source of water to tap and how, the State Government in 1958 constituted an Expert Committee to go into the issue.

The committee was also asked to study which of the following sources would be the better to tap. The sources were: 1) Arkavathy river downstream of  T.G.Halli reservoir 2) Hemavathy River c) Shimsha River and d) Cauvery River.

The committee felt it would be better to tap the Cauvery as it had better potential in meeting Bangalore’s needs. It also said the Cauvery could be depended upon for further tapping of water as against the limited capacity of the other three rivers. The Government accepted the proposal and on April 1964 granted administrative approval for bringing Cauvery to Bangalore.

This was how the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) commenced and the first stage was estimated to cost Rs.22 crores.

Work on the first stage commenced during 1969 and it was completed in five years. On January 24, 1974, Bangalore received its first drop of Cauvery water.

However, the first stage barely quenched the thirst of Bangaloreans and the Government then along with the BWSSB decided to go in for the second stage to augment water supply. The work on the second stage costed Rs. 65.50 crores and it was taken up and completed during 1979 to 1982.

When even the second stage failed to bridge the growing demand for water, the BWSSB decided to go in for the third stage. Work began in 1985 and it was completed in May 1993. The total cost of the third stage was Rs. 240 crores and it brought in an additional 270 MLD of Cauvery into the City’s taps.

The total water supplied to Bangalore by all the three stages put together was 540 MLD but this too proved inadequate, forcing the BWSSB to go in for another stage to get more water.

Bringing Cauvery to Bangalore from the source at TK Halli in Kanakapura is an expensive proposition. The distance is about 100 kilometres and the Cauvery has to be pumped over a gradient in three stages of 500 feet each. The cost of pumping so much is about Rs. 400 crores, which forms a substantial chunk of the water board’s finances.

Today, the State cannot draw any more water from the Cauvery to supply water to Bangalore, It has to look at alternatives and there are plenty. Apart from tapping fresh sources, water conservation techniques such as rain water harvesting, recharging ground water, recycling waste water, segregating water for domestic and non-domestic uses, plugging leakages, modernizing the water supply and drainage system would go a long way in ensuring better water supply.   

The natural valleys of Bangalore

Ask any water expert of geologist and he is more likely to say that Bangalore has four major natural valleys located within the water shed of two principal river basins, the Arkavathy to the west and South Pennar to the East.

The Bangalore plateau is made up of  the four valleys which take off from north and fall gradually towards the south. Of the four valleys, the three main are Vrishabhavathi, Koramangala and Chellaghatta and all of them run in a north to the south direction and divide Bangalore into three distinct and separate drainage zones.

The fourth valley is Hebbal and this runs from north of the ridge and continues in the north easterly direction. These are the four valleys but what is not all that well-known is that there are five other valleys and they too play a vital role in the natural drainage system of Bangalore.

The other lesser known five valleys, which  are minor in nature, are Marathalli to the East, Arkavathy and Kethamaranahalli to the North West and Kathriguppa and Tavarekere to the south.

All these five minor valleys lie outside the tributary area of the  major valleys-Hebbal, Chellaghatta, Koramangala and Vrishabhavati and and they drain independently.

The nine valleys together form a unique and natural drainage system and both excess rain water and sewage flow down the city.

However, almost all the natural channels-feeder, storm water, drains- have either been encroached upon or blocked in places and this had led to the reverse flow of water into the city and not outwards, leading to flooding of roads, footpaths and localities.

What has compounded the inability of the natural valleys to drain off the water is the almost century old underground drainage system of  the City. It was way back in 1922 that Bangalore got underground drainage and this commenced from the pete areas of Bangalore.

The underground drainage system received a massive support when the then Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) in 1950 began an extensive and comprehensive programme. Till 1964, it was the BCC that took care of water supply and sewerage. That year, the State Government decided to set up a separate agency to handle water supply, sanitation and sewerage and formed the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

Since then, the BWSSB has been in charge of water and sewerage for Bangalore City.

The BWSSB has set up three main sewage treatment plants- Vrishabavati, Koramangala-Chellaghatta and Hebbal- to deal with recycling of water. Two additional mini-plants have been built near Madiwala and Kempambudi

As far as water goes, the BWSSB supplies approximately 900 million litres (238 million gallons) of water to Bangalore every day. The is as against a demand of 1.3 billion litres.

Coming back to the drainage system, the lakes and tanks in the four main valleys of  Hebbal, Koramangala, Chellaghatta and Vrishabhavati were a vital clog of nature’s  drain. Apart from draining excess water, they also helped in supplying water and keeping the city cool.

These lakes formed the cascading chain system right from Nandi Hills and continued all the way down to Kanakapura, Ramanagar-Chennapatna, Hoskote, Anekal. The interconnectivity of the water bodies within the valleys is really unique in a city which has no major source of water nearby.

The slope of the valleys allowed rain water to drain from the municipal limits of Bangalore within five hours. The percolation into the ground was minimal. All this changed in the 1980s when prolonged drought led to the drying of tanks and lakes and the State Government itself  encouraged the formation of layouts on tanks and lake beds. In all, 43 tanks made way for residential areas and layouts such as HRBR Layout, HSR Layout, Sarakki, Katriguppe.

The valleys too were blocked at several places and the free flow of water ended abruptly, leading to water backing up in Bangalore, leading to urban flooding and massive rain damage to life and property. The sewerage lines here are interconnected by

several tanks.

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 death of a river

If the Cauvery is the lifeline of the southern part of Karnataka and Krishna of north Karnataka, there is no doubt that the same status should be bestowed on the Arkavathy.

Though it is labeled as a minor river, the Arkavathy has a tremendous job to do and apart from feeding water to Bangaloreans, the river has several other tasks to perform. Over the years, the greed of mankind and lopsided development has led to a state where the river has almost dried up in several areas and many channels which once fed fairly large amounts of water and acted as tributaries have either dried up or have been encroached.

Rising near Nandi Hills, she joins the Cauvery after a 190 kilometer journey. She connects nearly 50 tanks and lakes and also fills up 375 tanks, most of which are used for irrigation. ‘

The Kumudavathi river, which is another small rivers at Shivaganga in Tumkur district and joins the Arkavathy at Tippegondanahalli (TG Halli), while the Suvarnamukhi and Vrishabhavathi merge at Doddamudavadi in Kanakapura taluk.

When Kempe Gowda founded Bangalore, he harnessed the potential of the Arkavathy and built the fist dam in this area at Hesarghatta. History tells us that Kempe Gowda and his successors built 75 tanks and lakes around Bangalore-Magadi-Savandurga-Yelahanka area and most of them continued to exists till the later part of the 19^th century.

The two major tanks-Hesarghatta and TG Halli met the water need sof Bangalore till the 1960s and the two rivers-Arvakathy and Kumudvati-continued to flow unrestricted. It was in the 1970s that the quest for more water to feed a growing populace began. Till then and this was till 1975, Bangalore got 24/7 water and all of it was from these two rivers.

Once the Cauvery entered the City’s pipelines, rationing of water commenced and today several parts of the city are reeling under water shortage and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is struggling to meet the ever growing demand for water.

Today, the Cauvery meets 80 per cent of Bangalore’s water needs and the Arkavathy 20 per cent. Unfortunately, the Arkavathy is slowly dying and it is only recently that the State Government woke up to this threat and decided to launch a comprehensive programme to save the river.

The Government has entrusted the job of  rejunevating the Arkavathy to the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL). The Nigam has already conducted a preliminary study of the river and also called for tenders to take up work between Hesarghatta and TG Halli.

The Nigam has divided the catchment area of the river into three divisions-Hessaraghatta valley, Kumudvathi and Arkavathi.

The Arakavathy travels a 101 km route from Nandi Hills to TG Halli and on this stretch alone it is the main source of water for 167 small and medium tanks. There are more than a thousand such water bodied from TG Halli to Sangam in Kanakapura where the Arkavathy merged with Cauvery.

The Arkavathy flows through Chickaballapur, Bangalore Rural and Ramanagaram districts before joining TG Halli  dam via Manchinabelle dam. The Arkavathy was a source of drinking water for people of all these districts but today even animals dare not drink the water as it is heavily contaminated and polluted.

What makes the 4000 square kilometer Arkavathy basin all the more important is that the river flowed, ground water was easily available in and around Bangalore and all along its course just at a depth of one to three metres.  Studies have shown that there were at least 30000 wells and they provided more than 56,000 litres of drinking water.

Apart from man made reasons, the drying up of Arkavathy has a natural reason too. The six year drought in parts of Bangalore district and which affected the Arkavathy basin the most, between 1980 and 1987 led to a slow but sure choking of all water bodies.

Almost all the 30,000 wells went dry and the Government and municipalities then went in for deeper wells called tube wells and it was in this period that borewells began to dot the landscape. Slowly but surely, the ground water dropped.

Agriculture ceased in many areas and they were converted into sites for layouts factories. It was around this time that Hesarghatta too completely dried up and the TG Halli too began recording lesser water levels.

The dry lakes and water bodies became prime targets of encroachments. Even the forests were not spared and slowly the lopsided development took its toll. The Arkavathy began drying up and its course too shrunk.

Apart from the Hesarghatta tank, another huge tank-the Nagarkere of Doddaballapur-which was fed by the Arkavathy too dried up. The dry tank bed became an open invitation for more than one hundred industries to set up shop. Another hundred industries soon followed and today there are more than 220 industries discharging industrial waste and effluents into the Arkavathy.

The polluted water of the Arkavathy subsequently flows to Doddatumakur and Chikkatumakur before reaching the Madavara tank from where it finally reaches TG Halli.

The fully polluted Arkavathy then further flows as a five-kilometre stretch into Ramanagara. Smaller rivers of  Vrishabhavati and Suvarnamukhi join the Arkavathy at Doddamuduvadi and all the three merge into the Cauvery at the Sangama in Kanakapura. This is the same Cauvery water which is supplied to Bangalore in five stages.
This is how Cauvery came to Bangalore and today more than 80 per cent of the needs are met by 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.) 

The revival of seven springs

 I have always encouraged students to actively participated in the NSS and NCC programmes of their institutions. If not for anything else, these routines will bring you closer to the real people of  India.

If NSS can help you get in touch with more people, the NCC will inculcate discipline in life. Both will definitely help you make a better individual.     

I would like to illustrate an incident about the benefits of  NSS and how its activities can help in building a nation, saving lives or even help revive a stream or lake.    

So here goes a tribute from the post to the NSS students of  RC College in Bangalore.

A few year ago, B Com and BBM students, numbering 46, from RC college were on a eleven day trip to Chennarayadurga or Chennigiri Hills which is adjacent to Nandi Hills in Chikaballapur district.

They had climbed the Chennigiri Hills to desilt an old and disused pond atop the hill. They had been told that this pond was once a feeder stream to the Arkavathy which takes birth from Nandi Hills.

The pond or Kalyani was completely covered with trash, plastic, debris, construction material, mud and slush. There was no sign of water anywhere.

The NSS team did not lose heart and set about the back breaking work of cleaning the pond of filth. NSS officer Tripura and her team slogged for hours every day. What makes their effort all the more laudatory is that the team had 22 women students.

The group had breakfast every morning at their base camp in Doddarayappanahalli village and then climb two kilometre to the summit. They would then get to work on the cleaning and it went on for five continuous days till late in the evening.

Days of hard work paid dividends and on the fifth day, the students  noticed water bubbling up from a natural spring within the pond or Kalyani. The next day when they returned to the pond, they found the entire area filled with water.

They got a pump installed near the pond and drained off the water. On the eleventh day of their camp, the students discovered seven long-dormant springs.

These springs today join the Arkavathy which for long has been the lifeline of Bangalore. If students can revive a spring, why  can’t Bangaloreans contribute their mite to revive our river.

Today, Bangalore is in the throes of a water crisis and the Cauvery award has little scope for meeting our water needs. The easiest and most inexpensive way to recharge the ground water would be to clean up the kalyanis, water channels and lakes.      

Geologists say that at least ten lakes between Doddaballapur and Channarayaswamy Betta need to be cleaned up while around 50 lakes between Doddaballapur and Hesarghatta need to be cleaned up so that they can be revived.  

Once these sources are revived, it would automatically give a new life to Arkavathi.