As summer approaches, the demand for water connections of Cauvery increases

Those who have Cauvery water connections will probably have no water problem this summer. There will be no supply cuts like last summer, says BWSSB president. | Photo credit: file photo

“We are almost completely dependent on water oil tankers, and the well we have is little help during the summer. It is projected that groundwater levels decrease even more this time. After the 2024 test, we did not want to risk and request a Cauvery water connection last month. We will get it for the moment when the summer peaks, ”said Ashok KH, president of the Apartment Complex of the Sobha Forest Edge residents, out of Kanakapura Road.

Although the initial response to the Cauvery V stage was warm, with the summer approach, the demand has increased. “The answer to our campaign is very good. The number of applications has increased dramatically, ”said V. Ram Prasath Manohar, president of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage (BWSSB).

The data show that in 2024, the Board received 58,543 applications and provided 38,013 new connections, obtaining income from ₹ 887.82 million rupees. The work to provide connections to the approximately 20,000 applicants is underway. Most of these requests occurred after October 16, 2024, when Cauvery V Stage, for which the Board had received a loan of ₹ 5,500 million rupees, was commissioned. Before this, 55,000 residents had received connections.

“The Monzones in 2024 were good, unlike 2023. The availability of water in the Cauvery basin is good, and we can draw the 2,220 mld assigned to us, even of Cauvery V Stage, if necessary. However, Cauvery V Stage’s demand is not yet at full capacity. Those who have Cauvery water connections will probably have no water problem this summer. There will be no supply cuts like last summer. But those who depend on the groundwater will feel the pinch, ”said Manhar, appealing to the residents in 110 villages to take advantage of the connections immediately.

A recent study by the Indian Institute of Sciences has predicted that groundwater levels will be exhausted up to 20-25 meters in 110 villages that have depended on groundwater for decades, and Cauvery V Stage is ready to serve these areas for March -April. 2025.

Legal options

Following the instructions of the main vice minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar, BWSSB is exploring legal options to make Cauvery V scenario connections mandatory for apartments complexes. “We believe that this can be done legally to avoid overexploitation of the underground water table. Soon we will present a proposal to the state government, ”said Manhar.

Eight villages still to obtain network

Eight of the 110 villages, four villages around Kadugodi in the east and four villages around Chokkanahalli in the north, do not yet have water supply networks. “We need land to build deposits at land (GLRS) in these villages, which have encountered a legal dispute, and the case is pending in court. Without a GLR, we cannot provide water supply, ”said Mr. Manohar.

Cauvery Connect centers

BWSSB will establish 10 large temporary tanks full of water from the Cauvery River, called Cauvery Connect centers, to serve the pockets that are not yet treated by the water of the Cauvery River. These include the eight villages that have not yet obtained water supply networks and certain other pockets within the city. People can buy water from the Cauvery river of these centers at a cost of ₹ 90/kilolitro. However, residents have to organize their own transport.

“One of those temporary metal tanks of 75,000 liters in Varthur was established, one of the eight villages that have not yet obtained a network of water supplies, last year and now the project is expanding to another ten centers” Said Jagadish Reddy, a resident of Varthur. However, he added that the center had not served local residents, since they did not find means to transport water to their homes. “Only some big apartments have benefited from the center,” he said.

The board will also establish smaller plastic tanks in the pockets of the city’s marginal neighborhoods and will fill them with water from the Cauvery river regularly, an initiative that began in the summer of 2024 and became popular.

Ramesh Reddy, a water business man in Doddanekkundi, said that the demand for water tank trucks was almost non -existent and did not foresee the prices that are fired as the summer of 2024 this year. The price of a load of a 12,000 -liter oil company is sold to ₹ 1,200.