BENGALURU: While the State Government and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) have announced that the 110 villages in the city’s periphery will get 775 million litres of water per day (MLD) from the end of April, informed sources said that might not be the case.
BWSSB sources said that to start with, 200 MLD additional water will be pumped under Cauvery Stage-5 to the newly added 110 villages, and gradually, based on demand and consumption, the supply will be increased.
“We will not supply 775 MLD from the end of April or the first week of May. It is not possible. In the first month, 200 MLD will be supplied. The demand and consumption will be analysed and then in the subsequent months, an additional 100 MLD or even less will be added to the supply,” said a BWSSB official on condition of anonymity.
BWSSB officials admitted that there was no “official” carrying capacity document with them for now. “There is no document to explain the carrying capacity and the demand of consumers from the 110 villages as of March 1, 2024. The total allocation for these 110 villages is 775 MLD. We are expecting that there will be 3–4 lakh consumers for Cauvery water. No survey has been done so far. At the moment, all the places in and around Mahadevapura are not connected with Cauvery pipes. The same is the case with West Bengaluru,” the official said.
On what will be done if the number of consumers is much higher than what is expected, the BWSSB official added that the maximum allocation is 775 MLD and only that quantity of water will be supplied. “If the demand is higher, then it will have to be managed and adjusted with the supply from other areas,” the official added.
According to BWSSB data, the 110 villages have so far got 46,000 connections. From the end of February, the BWSSB increased the Cauvery water supply to Bengaluru from 1450 MLD to 1470 MLD. Consumers, however, have been crying foul of poor water supply.
“The agency is rationing in giving connections to apartment complexes. For instance, if the application of an apartment complex with 200 units wants four connections, BWSSB is asking them to make do with three and is not keen to implement the older application rate. Apartment dwellers are being asked to revise and make payments as per new rates, which many are not agreeing to. This is reducing the water demand for BWSSB,” said a source from BWSSB.