BENGALURU: Once the ‘city of lakes’, Bengaluru may soon be faced with severe water scarcity. In less than two decades, the city may have to be evacuated because of this, according to a recent study.
But residents of Rajarajeshwari Nagar show how we can reverse this – win back lakes and replenish water tables.
Seven years ago, in this locality that falls between Kengeri and Uttarahalli, the tube-wells started drying up and there was an acute water scarcity. This is a well-populated area with 30,000 sites.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board pipelines were constantly being uprooted and replaced with broadened pipes. “It was a necessary infrastructural change, meant to upgrade the pipes, but we suffered in the process,” says Srinath HR, President of RWA.
The residents were at a loss about where to draw water from, hence after much contemplation, they decided to approach the authorities to rejuvenate the Halagevaderahalli lake. “The storage capacity of the lake was increased manifold, which in turn recharged the water in the depleted wells,” he said.
Halagevaderahalli had been a dry lake bed, since 1999, and passersby would often mistake it for a barren stretch. The revival of the lake has resulted in better water supply to the area since 2014.
However, the entire process took nearly five years. It was led by the corporator at the time, in 2009, Ramachandra. During the first year, a six-month survey was conducted of the catchment area to identify the blockages, amount of silt and to study the holding capacity of the lake. “The project took five years, as we had to keep going back and forth between the Forest Department and Lake development Authority,” Srinath HR explains.
Next, a budget was prepared and tender floated, but it took a while to find someone interested in implementing in the project. “Also, ear-marking boundaries took about six months to see the feasibility of the project,’ Srinath says.
While the project was in the works, the BWSSB supplied them with water in tanks. Along the way, the residents did a bit of beautifying around the lake as well. In 2012, they installed a walking track with the help of KWA.
Ajje Gowda, Director of Parisara Hitha Samrakshana Samithi, formed a committee to help rejuvenate the lake, but they are currently unhappy with the state of affairs. “During the next lake festival, we want to plant more saplings and lay out a jogger’s track. The lake is 11.4 acres, but only around 6-7 acres is used for water storage and the rest has been encroached,” he said.
Garbage woes have not spared this locality either. The door-to door collection is poorly coordinated here. “It is hard to say, when the pourakarmika’s come and go. There is no established schedule. When I call the contractor, he comes. Otherwise, we store the waste, in our own house,” Puttegowda, a resident.
He finds little fault with the pourakarmikas, since he says they work without payments for two or three months and that tax money is used inefficiently.