BENGALURU: The state government has asked the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to explore the feasibility of providing Cauvery drinking water to Hoskote. It has also conveyed its readiness to fund the project, estimated at `42 crore.
BWSSB provides Cauvery water for 570 sq kms of the city (erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike area) and will supply water to the newly added BBMP areas when Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage V gets operational.
Confirming the request received from the government, a top official said that the water board will prepare a feasibility report in this connection. The government wants some quantum of water that has been saved through the Unaccounted For Water (UFW) project to be utilised for the purpose. “In the Hoskote direction, BWSSB supplies water from the city up to Hoodi. The water board needs to lay pipelines for an additional 18 km to ensure supply of water here,” the official added.
Asked about the amount of water needed, the official said, “If we estimate roughly, 1.5 lakh people reside in Hoskote. We need to supply them at least 15 million litres of water per day (MLD). The water saved from the UFW Project now stands at 120 MLD and a portion of that will be enough.”
Hoskote residents have been repeatedly requesting for drinking water as they depend on borewells. Three years ago, the government had asked BWSSB to consider a similar proposal. “We could not proceed further with it due to the lack of sufficient water as well as funds, among other reasons,” the official said. He also said it would take BWSSB upto a month to prepare the feasibility report.
“The report needs to be approved by the government after which funds have to be released too. It will take up to three months for pipelines to be laid once the tenders are finalised,” he informed.