Water woes | A searing crisis in Karnataka and its IT capital, Bengaluru

Amid depleting dams, dried borewells and lakes, and soaring tanker prices in Bengaluru, The Hindu’s Water Woes series delves into the gravity of the drinking water crisis, the people’s plight and concerns at a time of drought, and the many ways in which different stakeholders have responded to the predicament. .

The Karnataka water crisis has affected more than 7,000 villages, 1,100 wards, and 220 talukas thus far. The State saw consecutive years of surplus rain, but the monsoon failed in 2023. While the water level at the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam hit a five-year low for February, the underground water table levels have also depleted, aggravating the crisis. Several districts are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water. According to Deputy Chief Minister and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, “Karnataka has not witnessed such a severe drought in the last 30-40 years.”

In Bengaluru, water woes have begun even before peak summer can set in. Of the 10,955 borewells drilled by the BBMP, 1,214 have completely dried up. In 3,700 others, the water levels have dropped. This, coupled with soaring mercury levels and lack of preparedness by the city administration, has left IT capital parched. In February, most households in the city, which depend on water supply from the Cauvery river or water tankers, were left scrambling as tanker prices skyrocketed too.

While the civic administration has now stepped in to provide some solace to the poor by capping water tanker prices and also regulate the tanker mafia, albeit with little success, people of Bengaluru living in apartments as well as independent houses are making their own efforts at conservation to cope with the crisis.

As the city stares at a long, scorching summer, The Hindu’s Water Woes series delves into the gravity of the drinking water crisis, the people’s plight and concerns at a time of drought, and the many ways in which different stakeholders have responded to the predicament.