The Bengaluru water crisis and how the Karnataka govt is tackling it

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Congress government in Karnataka government to step in to regulate supply. The shortage hasn’t just affected the drinking water supply, but it has also had an impact on irrigation. Of the 14,700 borewells in Bengaluru, 6,997 have dried up, as per reports.

The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which supplies drinking water to the city, has said while the situation can be managed in central areas, the crisis is more serious on the city’s outskirts. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, cabinet ministers, and officials held a meeting on March 5 seeking to address the problem. Bengaluru has two major sources of water.

At least 1,450 million litres per day (MLD) of surface water from the Cauvery and another 700 MLD from borewells dug by the BBMP are handed over to BWSSB for supplying water, according to a report inThe Indian Express. Also Read: Bengaluru water crisis: Housing society in Whitefield introduces ₹5,000 fine for misuse, deploys guard With the Cauvery V Stage project – to provide piped drinking water to 110 villages added to the city administration – set to be commissioned in April, the city was expected to get another 775 MLD. But an acute shortage of rainfall in the Cauvery basin may have derailed those calculations, the report said. According to the BWSSB, the water input to the city has fallen by 50 per cent.

The water level in the Cauvery River has substantially dropped since there has not been enough rain in the region. The weakened southwest monsoon rainfalls have resulted in groundwater levels going down and decreased water reserves in the Cauvery River basin reservoirs, according to a report by Reuters news agency. This has affected irrigation and led