Bengaluru- or India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ as it is commonly called, is presently battling a deepening water crisis, because of which the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has prohibited the use of potable water in swimming pools.
Recently an order was issued that aims to conserve precious drinking water resources amid the scarcity in the south Indian city. The use of potable water in swimming pools is strictly prohibited by the BWSSB order and anyone who goes against this order will have to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 which is around $61.
Stressing the seriousness of the issue, BWSSB chairperson Dr V Ram Prasath Manohar said that, we must make it clear to the people of Bengaluru and also the global citizens about Bengaluru.
In the city, we have 14 million population, 150 liters of water consumption per person per day is required. The total quantity required for Bengaluru is 200000 million liters daily. He also highlighted the city’s water sources and said that presently from the Cauvery River, Bengaluru receives 10450 million liters daily of water.
Presently, 34 thousand million cubic feet (tmc) of water is provided by the reservoir. For the next five months, only eight tmc water is required for Bengaluru. The water from Cauvery will be enough till July, he said.
The state unit of the BJP staged a protest at Freedom Park to highlight the water crisis and criticize the Congress government’s handling of the situation. There, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya accused the Congress government of neglecting the interests of Bengaluru residents.
The Congress government, knowing well in advance about the looming water crisis in Bengaluru, acted against the interests of the people & released water to please its alliance partner in Tamil Nadu. Neither DCM DK Shivakumar nor CM Siddaramaiah visited any of the water-stressed areas of the city and don’t know the difficulty the people are facing, he said. DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister criticized the BJP for politicizing the water crisis.
“BJP is planning a protest against the state government and letting them do what they want, by first letting them approach the central government and ask them to permit the Mahadayi and Mekedaatu projects,” he said.
He refuted claims of water scarcity in Bengaluru, attributing it to political maneuvers by the BJP. “In Bengaluru, there is no such scarcity of water but it is the BJP that has created the scarcity and it’s what they’re doing, we are providing what we have been asked legally to Tamil Nadu. To provide water to Bengaluru is our main priority,” he said.
Shivakumar also assured the public that the government is taking proactive measures to address the crisis.
