The city’s quest for finding alternative sources of drinking water may come to an end soon. A special committee constituted in 2010 under the chairmanship of H N Thyagaraja, former chairman of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), for exploring alternative sources to supply drinking water is likely to submit its report in a month or two.
Board Chairman Gaurav Gupta said, “The committee is in the process of visiting some important places to ascertain certain things before preparing the final report. The committee is likely to submit its report in a month or two. If the government accepts the recommendations of the committee, the city will get water from alternative sources in a few years.”
According to BWSSB sources, the committee had submitted an interim report after exploring various means of supplying water from alternative sources to the city.
Some of the important options explored by the committee are supplying Hemavathi water after pumping it to Thippagondanahalli reservoir, pumping water from one of the rivers that originate in Malnad by constructing a reservoir across the river, lifting Cauvery water at Mekedhatu, located 100 km away from Bangalore, tapping rain water that falls in and around Bangalore and pumping recycled water.
Though, the BWSSB has the infrastructure to pump 125 MLD from Thippagondanahalli reservoir, it has stopped pumping water from the reservoir due to the lack of water in the reservoir.
The sources said the committee was working on the economic aspects of pumping water from different sources.
Bangalore will have an assured water supply of 1,310 MLD (million litres per day) from all the four stages, including IV Stage II Phase, of Cauvery Water Supply Projects.
According to the official projections, the present water supply would be insufficient to meet the demands of the increasing population of the city by 2016. There is a demand for 1,200 MLD of water in the city at present and the demand is expected to exceed 1,400 MLD by 2016.