Bengaluru water crisis: A 70% drop in this key stat shows why India's Silicon Valley is parched, as per IISc
acute water shortage, experiencing the worst drought in the last 30-40 years, an IISc study has pinned the blame on the 70 per cent drop in the water spread area in the city.
It is well known that the city has seen a 1055 per cent bump in built-up areas, i.e., concrete structure and paved surfaces, in the last few decades. In addition, it has seen a staggering drop in the water spread area which has now been termed as the root cause of the depleting groundwater table across the city.
A study by the IISC's Centre for Ecological Sciences says that water spread area has fallen from 2,324 hectares in 1973 to just about 696 hectares in 2023, a 70 per cent drop.
«The extent of water surface in Bengaluru during 1973 was 2,324 hectares. Over the last 50 years, due to reckless concretization, the water surface has shrunk considerably. Of the remaining water bodies, 98% of lakes are encroached upon and 90% of them are fed with untreated sewage or industrial effluents. Naturally, this has impacted the recharge of the groundwater table as well,» TOI quoted IISc's Prof TV Ramachandra as saying.
In its study, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) scientists mapped the transformation and evolution of Bengaluru over the last 50 years. Ramachandra said that the reduction in water surface area has also affected the groundwater recharge across Bengaluru.
The study has shown that the city lost its green cover owing to higher quantity of air pollutants and rising temperature levels.
The built-up area of the ‘concrete jungle’ in
