Cabinet nod boosts Cauvery project

Bangalore: If you have already paid the Beneficiary Contribution Capital (BCC) for water supplied to your house and have been worried over the BWSSB dilly dallying on the issue, here is some good news. You will need some patience as the project will take a few years before Cauvery water comes to your house. 

The state government has given an in-principle approval for allocating 10 tmcft of water from its share of Cauvery water to be supplied in the coming years to 110 villages which have been merged with the BBMP.

The BWSSB will now redraft the detailed project report (DPR) for a water and sewerage pipeline project for these villages.

The earlier DPR prepared in 2008 for the Greater Bangalore Water and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) for laying 2,700 km-long water lines and 2,000 km of sewerage lines in the 110 villages at Rs 2,389 crore was shot down by the central government when it realised that the city did not have sufficient water to cater to the current and future populations in these areas.

The central government returned the proposal with questions on the source of water for these villages and also the rest of the city till 2040.

Now that the state cabinet has given drawing additional 10 tmcft of water from the Cauvery to cater to these areas, the BWSSB is planning a project that will supply water to these areas for at least another 10-20 years, said BWSSB Chairman M.S. Ravishankar.

Deccan Chronicle had reported on August 28 that the BWSSB was going ahead with the pipeline project without having ensured the source of water for the 110 villages. (Pipe dream, but where is the water?)

“The Karnataka government has approved water for the 110 villages and we are waiting for an official communication. Once water for the area is ensured, we should be able to go ahead with the pipeline project," Ravishankar said.

Earlier this year, the Karnataka High Court had asked the BWSSB to ensure safe drinking water to the newly added areas in the city, including 110 villages.

With the Cauvery Stage IV Phase II, which was completed recently, the BWSSB had exhausted Bengaluru’s current share of Cauvery water, leaving 110 villages uncovered under the water supply network. The demand for water in 110 villages is 75 million litres a day, which goes up to 90 MLD in summer.

The city require 1,675 to 1,775 MLD of water. The demand in summer goes up to 2,140 MLD. But the BWSSB is currently entitled to only 1,450 MLD from the Cauvery, which is not sufficient to meet the demands of the core city areas and eight ULBs for even another year.