Treated water to help BBMP parks tide over summer

BENGALURU: As the summer has begun to take its toll on the plants and trees, the BBMP has requested the BWSSB to supply treated water to its parks in the city.

As most parks under the jurisdiction of BBMP are facing water shortage, it is affecting the survival of plants and nurseries. Hence the help of BWSSB is being sought for regular irrigation of these plants.

A senior BBMP officer said that on Wednesday City Mayor Sampath Raj had met the BWSSB officials and requested them to provide treated water from sewage treatment plants (STP) to  irrigate the parks.

The officer said, "There are around 1,125 parks that come under BBMP, out of which 126 have rain water harvesting facility. While 860 parks have borewells, 250 of them are facing water shortage as borewells have gone dry. It is expected many more such borewells will dry up soon."

Another officer said, "The water released from STPs go down the drain, so we decided to tap it for parks. We have asked the BWSSB to arrange for water tankers and they have agreed. We are also holding discussion to fix the price for each tanker."

When contacted a BWSSB official, he said, "The idea was long pending. We had suggested it to BBMP earlier, but they did not pay heed. We even told them that the treated water can be used for free of charge. Now, they have realised that they are facing water shortage for the parks. They have also been repeated told to install rain water harvesting system in all their parks, but they appear disinterested."