Guest column: Rather than water security, what we need is water sovereignty

Presently Bengaluru is entirely dependent on river Cauvery for its water requirements.  If we look at the city's history, its water requirements were met only by surface wells and lakes. But as years passed, it started to depend only on the Cauvery and water sources far away.

Politicians are aware that the increasing needs of a bustling Bengaluru cannot be met by the river Cauvery alone. And the government too knows its dependence on far away water sources can be reduced with the help of certain water conservation measures. But then why is it not doing anything about it?  The answer is simple : it doesn’t want to. There is a deliberate attempt to make Bengaluru dependent on water sources away from the city because such projects require large funds , that politicians are always interested in.

In fact, by tapping  rain water alone, Bengaluru’s huge dependency on the river Cauvery can be reduced. This coupled with using treated water, building more lakes and rejuvenating the existing ones can go a long way in making it self-sufficient in water.

But no proper measures have been taken by the  government to reduce its dependence on the Cauvery river. This is not the case with Bengaluru alone. The entire state of Karnataka can be divided majorly into four or five aggregates that depend on  dams for their water needs.

While the water board can come up with emergency measures to mitigate  water scarcity in summer,  what the government should be  working towards  is water sovereignty.

The writer is co-founder, People’s Campaign for Right to Water.