The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s order for increased release of water from the river to Tamil Nadu may affect the drinking water supply of Bangalore. This is the fear of the city leaders and civic agencies. With the consolidation of Bangalore and its more rural parts into a Bruhat Bangalore region, a process that has just begun, the government is likely to be forced into a toss-up between meeting the needs of farmers and a growing metropolis. At present Bangalore’s drinking water requirement is met by pumping up water from the Cauvery, which is located nearly 90 km away. The total water allotted for Bangalore per annum is 19 tmc ft, of which 15 tmc ft is being currently utilised. Officials of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board say the city will require 35 tmc ft from the Cauvery to meet the needs of a Greater Bangalore region, created by the amalgamation of seven city municipal councils and one town council. To meet this projected requirement over the next five years, the government will have to divert from the allocation for farming and with the tribunal ordering release of 270 tmc ft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu against the 205 tmc ft ordered earlier, Karnataka will find itself in a quandary in the coming days, BWSSB officials said. On a daily basis the water supply to Bangalore will have to increase from the current 810 million litres a day to 1,319 million litres a day after the formation of the Bruhat Bangalore region, the officials said. “The Cauvery water order will definitely affect the water supply to Bangalore, especially after the creation of Bruhat Bangalore. The government needs to ensure that supply is not affected,’’ MLA from the Gandhinagar region in Bangalore, Dinesh Gundu Rao stated. According to former state irrigation secretary Raja Rao, Karnataka will have to look at alternative but more expensive sources of water supply for Bangalore in the coming years.
