Techies leave city, hospitals struggle: How Bengaluru’s water woes have upended lives

Bengaluru is bracing for a tough summer as water shortage grips the city. From high-rise apartments to hospitals, the scarcity of the precious resource is making everyone suffer due to the depletion of underground water and drought in the Cauvery basin.

The pictures of long queues for water and distress calls from residents, industries, and institutions present a grim scenario. Tech workers have started leaving and X users are urging Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to mandate work from home for companies in Karnataka’s IT city.

Let’s take a look at how dry taps have landed Bengaluru in dire straits.

Bengaluru’s worsening water woes

Bengaluru’s hospitals have also fallen victim to the city’s water troubles. They have to depend on recycled water for toilets, drill borewells and rely on water tankers to tackle the crisis.

“Every day, on average, we need 10 lakh litres of water. Our borewells cater to only 20-30 per cent of our requirement,” Dr Ravi Babu, chief admin officer, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Whitefield, told Times of India (TOI).

“Being the administrator, it is a difficult task for me to run the show every day and I’m being forced to yield to the tanker owners’ pressures. They are charging Rs 120 per kilolitre,” he added.

Gated communities and apartments in the city have not been exempt from water scarcity either. The water sources of the Bengaluru fire department have also been hit due to the crisis that began in March even before the summer set in.

Speaking to Indian Express, an officer at the Electronic City fire station said, “We get five to six fire calls every day. This inch of water has to serve both the station and also the residential quarters of the staff. We are not getting sufficient water. After attending a fire call, we search for water sources such as lakes or some borewells on our way back to fill up the fire tenders. We refill and return to the station.”

Some hotels in East Bengaluru are also bearing the brunt of the water shortage, while others are reportedly banking on water management systems such as rainwater harvesting and sewage treatment plants (STPs) to avert the crisis.

Ajay Gowda, managing partner, Byg Ventures, and promoter of brands like microbrewery Byg Brewski, told Indian Express, “Some of us have taken the preemptive decision of installing adequate water management systems, anticipating such a water crisis much earlier. It is indeed a challenge to operate given the situation in Bengaluru. But all we are doing is requesting cooperation from customers to use water judiciously. We have installed diffusers to our water taps, which reduces the flow by 30 per cent than regular tap water.”

Techies leave, WFH demand rises

The water shortage is forcing techies to temporarily leave the city for their hometowns. According to Anita Srinivas, an IT professional who has moved to Mumbai because of the water crisis, the drying up of borewells and the wait for private tankers made her situation in the city “untenable”, Deccan Herald (DH) reported.

Bengaluru requires nearly 1,450 million litres per day (MLD) of surface water from the Cauvery and 700 MLD from borewells dug by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). However, as both sources run out of water, the situation has become dire in the outskirts of the city. It is somewhat manageable in the central parts.

Rashmi Ravindran, a resident of Bengaluru who is considering moving to her house in Kerala’s Wayanad, told DH that they are facing acute water scarcity which has led to tensions among neighbours. “We have lived in Bengaluru for 15 years now and never faced such an acute water shortage. We live in an independent 30x40 house in Banaswadi. We depend on borewell water. The borewell that supplies water has lost its depth with very little water.

“The neighbours have started fighting to get water to their homes and fixing valves in front of their houses. The water flow pressure is so low that nobody gets enough.”

Several users on social media have been requesting the Karnataka chief minister to make work from home mandatory for IT companies in the capital city as well as allow online classes for schools.

An account that goes by Karnataka Weather said that announcing WFH would reduce the demand for water supply if the majority of migrants working in the corporate sector moved back to their hometowns till June end. However, other users pointed out the fallout of such a step as people will either have to keep paying rent to keep their places or risk losing their rented accommodations.

Residents of independent houses have also questioned the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) order banning the use of potable water (Cauvery and borewell) for non-consumption purposes.

While those living in apartments have access to usually reused water from STP, independent houses do not have this option. “As groundwater is a common resource, in our layout, we had decided not to drill individual borewells when we constructed houses decades ago. We only get Cauvery water in our house. Like every other house in Bengaluru, we also have a small garden, which would wither in this heat without water. Hence, while being conscious about water usage, we have to continue using Cauvery water for our plants,” a resident of Dodda Bommasandra told The Hindu.

The BWSSB, which is in charge of supplying water in Bengaluru, issued an order last week prohibiting the usage of drinking water for cleaning vehicles, gardening, construction, road works, and other non-essential purposes.

Potable water also cannot be used for any other purposes in cinema halls and malls. The BWSSB said a penalty of Rs 5,000 will be imposed on those who violate the order. Repeat offenders will “attract a penalty of Rs 5,000 plus Rs 500 every day”.

Amid the worsening situation, the Prestige Falcon City (PFC) Apartments on Kanakapura Road, a posh residential enclave, has urged its residents to use disposable cutlery and wet wipes to conserve water. Vasanth Kumar, president of the PFC RWA, told DownToEarth, “We used to source water through private tankers. But as there is scarcity even in tanker services, we’re looking for alternatives. We’re aware that there is not enough water at the reservoir (Krishna Raja Sagara on the Cauvery in Mandya), and we must understand the scenario. I have suggested using disposable plates, cutlery and wet wipes, as this will reduce the usage of water and help us sail through the sticky conditions.”

What is the solution to Bengaluru’s water crisis?

The Karnataka government has introduced several urgent measures to address the issue, including taking control of the private water tankers and fixing their prices. However, the water shortage in Bengaluru is not a new problem.

Experts blame unplanned urbanisation, population boom and inimical industrial and agricultural policies for the crisis, besides uncertain monsoon and climate change. The BWSSB has attributed the water shortage to the city’s over-dependence on the Cauvery and uncoordinated water management, The Wire reported.

Dr Deepti Acharya, a Senior Assistant Professor at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, wrote for The Wire: “Approaches towards water governance should be more human-centric rather than tech-centric. This can help common people understand what is happening with respect to water planning and who are the real beneficiaries of the water projects. It is crucial to realise that the thirst of the city cannot be a subject of politics and hence immediate effective steps are required to be taken, sensitively”.

The Karnataka Water Policy 2022 recommended various measures such as recycling, reuse of treated wastewater, rainwater harvesting, and industrial water use planning among others to tackle the water woes.

With inputs from agencies