Bengaluru water crisis: Demand for Cauvery water on the rise as borewells run dry

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

“We are receiving the same input from the Cauvery that we have been getting. The water level in the basin is depleting, whereas demand in the city has increased without the borewell supplements,” officials at the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) said.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said that out of the city's 16,781 borewells, only 7,784 were currently operational, with 6,997 having dried up. The areas in the city’s tech belt, away from its centre, would be the most affected, said BWSSB officials. “These places have always used borewell water, never Cauvery, up until now,” they said.

With Karnataka having received its lowest rainfall since 1973 during last year’s southwest monsoon, the state is in the grip of an acute water shortage crisis. Shivakumar, who also holds the Bengaluru development and the water resources portfolios, announced on Saturday that the private water tankers in Bengaluru would be taken over by the government to curb the rising prices. Tanker operators, he said, had been given till March 7 to comply, else their tankers would be seized.
Out of 3,500 tankers in the city, the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) under the Karnataka Transport Department have seized 163 private water tankers in the last one week. With one day left for the mandatory registration deadline, water tanker operators in the city are protesting their tankers being impounded by the RTO authorities.