Bengaluru: Though the city is staring at a water crisis, with alarmingly low levels at Cauvery basin, experts lament that little has been done on the water conservation front.The total storage levels in four Cauvery dams - KRS, Kabini, Hemavathi and Harangi stands at 8.8 TMC feet and it is hardly sufficient to cater to the average monthly drinking water requirement of 3 TMC feet for cities like Bengaluru, Mysore and surrounding areas.
With weathermen predicting scant rains for cities like Bengaluru, it is in for hard times and ill-prepared to face it.Water experts have been repeatedly stressing on the need to the take up rainwater harvesting, but there have been few takers, even though BWSSB has made it mandatory to install RWH. Out of 18 lakh properties in city, it has been installed in just one lakh properties, lament water experts.
Noted water expert and coordinator of energy and wetland research, IISC Dr T.V. Ramachandra said the reason was poor implementation of RWH. "Only those who are sensible and aware about the need to conserve environment have taken up RWH. In a city brimming with a population of over one crore, hardly 0.1 percent of aware of environment and take measures to protect them," he said.
If rainwater is harvested and lakes rejuvenated in Bengaluru, we can generate 31 TMC feet of water annually and reduce our dependence on Cauvery, he explained. Water expert and Principal Investigator of the RWH project with the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), Shivakumar said the government should be more proactive and provide water literacy to the masses so that they take up RWH.
"Bengaluru is reeling under severe water crisis and it is time that the city wakes up and tap the full potential of RWH. In normal rainy season, a simple 40x60 site, receives 2 lakh litres of rainwater of which 1-1.5 lakh litres can be easily conserved and used for domestic purpose and recharge groundwater, Shiva Kumar said.
Fact file
- Bengaluru has over 18 lakh properties.
- Only one lakh households have taken up RWH.
- City receives 23 TMC of rain annually on any given year.
- A 40x60 plot, receives 2 lakh litres of water and nearly 1.5 lakh litres can be tapped with RWH
- Of which over 15 TMC can be easily tapped with the help of RWH
- BWSSB draws 19 TMC of water from Cauvery every year
