Water woes: BWSSB to lay 500 metre pipelines and use tankers up within 5 km radius to supply treated water to construction projects  

To encourage the usage of treated water for construction activities, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board will lay separate pipelines covering an area of up to 500 metres from private apartments and the board’s sewage treatment plants (STP), to ensure continuous and adequate supply of water to construction sites.  

To encourage the usage of treated water for construction activities, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board will lay separate pipelines covering an area of up to 500 metres from private apartments and the board’s sewage treatment plants (STP), to ensure continuous and adequate supply of water to construction sites.  

Further, with an increasing demand for treated water, the BWSSB will also supply treated water to consumers within a five-kilometre radius of the STPs in the first phase. This water will be supplied through tankers for which the charges must be borne by the consumers.

This comes after builders, now mandated to use treated water for construction purposes and their borewells at construction sites commandeered by BWSSB, complained that fetching treated water was increasingly unviable.

This arrangement is also expected to bring in additional revenue for the BWSSB. “As of now, there is a demand for 62 lakh litres of treated water and the demand is expected to go up further. Thus, supplying treated water will generate additional revenue for the BWSSB,” V. Ram Prasath Manohar, Chairman, BWSSB, said on Sunday. 

While the supply of treated water for construction is an initiative of the BWSSB along with the Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI), the supply of treated water will begin on April 2. The BWSSB had also granted approval to sell 50% of treated water from apartment STPs from March 11.  

Following its directions that only treated water should be used for construction purposes, the board is now trying to bring suppliers and consumers under a common platform to facilitate easy sale and access of STP water. Additionally, the BWSSB is also in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) to obtain third-party certification of the quality of the STP water and to address any concerns about its usage.  

The BWSSB launched the ‘Parisara Jalasnehi’ mobile app two weeks ago to monitor and sell treated sewage from STPs. Those who wish to procure this treated water for non-drinking purposes, including for construction projects, can book their requirements on the app.