Thank you, thank you very much Times of India, and journalists Jayashree Nandi & Aarthi R for highlighting the water woes of Bengaluru right atop your Sunday frontpage, bang next to that thing called IPL. Water shortage and quality issues came up high in Jaagore-Praja-SmartVote election issue survey here, which was a bit surprising (yeah, we know and care!). But no candidate has shown serious interest or understanding - forget solutions - for the looming water shortage faced by Namma Bengaluru.
Interested members who want to take this further, please sign up for this BWSSB tracking project which is running slow for lack of volunteers (just leave a comment there to say you want to help). We must track and understand BWSSB's projects and constraints, the understanding and impact of their initiatives (or delays) has to be taken beyond just some dedicated NGOs working in this space.
Back to the TOI Water report today (Shell out now, Get .. in 2012), what Jayashree and Arthi are telling us is that:
Most Of New BBMP Areas Depend On Bore wells ... Only 72 of the 250 CMC wards added to the BBMP now get Cauvery water, but once in 3-4 days, The 110 villages that were newly added to the BBMP are yet to get into this supply zone. They might have to wait till 2012.
There are some more reports on the subject deeper in the paper, but not as much detailed stat as us geeks would like. There is some generic talk of how so many ring roads and apartments etc have come up, but without any clear water usage plans. Also, why focus on Cauvery Water alone. Why assume that the goal for BWSSB is to get everyone water only from Cauvery? There could be other sources. The point is to have a sustainable water supply (and conservation) plan for the city, and that the borewells are not it.
Come on guys, let us do a little deeper tracking of the situation.
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Comments
BWSSB lying --Cauvery Water? CAN WE ASK FOR A LIMITs TO GROWTH
Cauvery water is as sacred as the Ganga Jal.
But with new RO tech being used under the JNNURM funds of Rs 2300 crs the BWSSB might plan to mix the treated water from lakes with the water from Cauvery Phase Iv stage II. If so will the people who have already paid the charges of BCC etc from 2004 with penalty agree to this mied sewerage treated water and be readly to drink any water
Does the BWSSB plan to mix the same water in all their JNNURM project lakes with all the water from previous phases as well?
Earlier in 2002 there was a proposal to make treated non-potable seperate lines for household use. Maybe this should be revived.
WE need to ASK FOR A LIMIT TO Blr's GROWTH ? of Bengaluru's new BDA and non BDA layouts which will house 2.5 lakhs new people.
Recycled wated is clean water
Public Agenda,
Plz read through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater . Please be convinced that recycled water wil be clean water that will not just be fit for human consumption, but also 'cleaner' than other sources of water.
I dont see any reason why we should not recycle the sewage water. There are many advantages from this. NOt only dies it increase the clean water sources and availability, it will also ensure cleaner sewage. Since sewage is recycled, the contaminants in the sewage is separated out and that will make our sewage lines (the raja kaluves) cleaner, which means better health for the citizens of the city. Infact, we should advocate for recycling plants all along the raja-kaluves , every few kilometers, so that clean sewage flows out the city.
One reason I believe we citizens do not undersatnd the water infrastructure is because they are 'invisible infrastructure'. The effects/utility of other aspects of infrastructure -like roads, bus services/public transport, power are all clearly visible to us. The water and sewage infrastructure is buried inside the earth, and hence we dont know much about these. I am not discounting the fact most of these civic agencies, with the possible exception of BBMP, do not necessarily 'project' the work done by themselves.
-Srivatsava V
-Srivatsava V
BWSSB not informed all prospective consumers
Do you agree that people in general may not be aware and may object to it later on ?
Have the BWSSB made any effort to inform all the prospectyive consumers who may get water in 2012 that they may get this mixed treated water ?