Water to burn hole in Bengalureans' pocket

Bengaluru: While the soaring mercury  and depleting water sources  have left Bengalureans sapped,  private water tankers are smelling an opportunity and have upped their rates.  

“We have hiked our rates from Rs  500 to  Rs  600 or Rs 750 per tanker due to shortage of water this year. Also the cost of pumping water has gone up,” said one water tanker owner, Mahesh, operating in  J.P Nagar 2nd Phase.

While close to two lakh apartment complexes heavily depend on water tankers in times of crisis in the city, the quality of the water is often suspect as Central Ground Water Board technical secretary, Suryanaryan,  says the groundwater in Bengaluru is highly polluted with nitrates as a result of sewage contamination.

In fact,  the World Health Organization (WHO) had in its 2014 report said the potable water in Bengaluru was more contaminated than in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Pune, Hyderabad or Chennai. In its estimation nearly 72 per cent of people in Bengaluru received water contaminated with  dissolved solids, chlorides and nitrates,  besides toxic chemicals, lead and disease-causing bacteria .

But the good  news is the water crisis could still be averted this year as the BWSSB has said the city is unlikely to face a shortage if water from the KRS dam is not released for agriculture during the next two months.

“We have pinned our hopes on the pre-monsoons.  But if it doesn’t rain before the first week of June, we will have water scarcity,” said BWSSB engineer-in-chief, Krishnappa adding that the board would be able to assess the  intensity of the water scarcity in the next 10 days.

BWSSB chairman,  T.M Vijay Bhaskar, meanwhile, said the board had requested the energy department not to disrupt power supply to the pumping stations to make sure that the city’s water supply was not affected.