BENGALURU: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is focusing on 65 water-stressed wards under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to ensure that the residents do not face any inconvenience during summer.
This comes in the wake of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) highlighting the depletion of groundwater at its recent report.
“Give high priority to the above 65 wards and take steps to provide water connection to the apartments in those areas at the earliest. Ensure that the water pipeline in these wards is in good condition, and if not, repair it immediately. Also, the groundwater level can be increased by filling treated water into lakes in these wards. Installing water tanks, temporary water distribution centres, and Cauvery water supply centres for slum areas, densely populated areas and apartments should be done,” said a senior engineer.
The engineers have been told to pay attention to installing aerators at households to conserve water. “Impose fines if drinking water is used for other purposes (vehicle cleaning, gardening and washing the house yard). Plan for reducing water for consumers with a large number of connections and those who use more water. Ensure that treated water is used compulsorily so that drinking water is not used for building construction work,” said a senior engineer.
The borewell department of the board has been directed to ensure that the borewells in the water-stressed wards are not disturbed and are well maintained. Officials have also been asked to make sure the RO plants function properly.
Kochu Shankar from the Horamavu-Ramamurthy Nagar Resident Welfare Association Cluster said BWSSB has to commission the Ground Level Reservoir (GLR) at Horamavu instead of depending on supply to these pockets from Kasturinagar GLR.
“The area has 13 villages which should get water from BWSSB, but only 50% is supplied by the board. We request BWSSB to increase the number of tankers for supplying drinking water as private players fleece us and their source of water is not traceable. The water supplied by private companies may be contaminated with heavy metals,” he said.