BENGALURU WATER SOURCES THE WATER-WASTE PORTRAIT Hesaraghatta reservoir Despite its highrises and malls, the ‘Silicon Valley’ 18 km and ‘Garden City’ of India fares badly as far as Arkavathi river infrastructure is concerned, and has lost its famous lakes to indiscriminate disposal of waste and encroachment Chamaraja Sagar BENGALURU reservoir TG HALLI 35 km WTP Boundary under Bangalore Development Authority V-Valley Boundary under Comprehensive Development Plan TK HALLI Sewage treatment plant (STP) WTP Shiva anicut STP (proposed) Cauvery river 90 km (Phase I - Stage 1-4) (future source: Phase II by 2011-14) Water treatment plant (WTP) Hesaraghatta Sewage pumping stations tank Ganayakanahalli Kere Baalur Kere Waterways Disposal of sewage Yelahanka tank Dakshina Pinakini river Waterbodies YELAHANKA Jakkur tank Doddagubbi Kumudvathi river tank Rampur HEBBAL tank Arkavathi river JAKKUR NAGASANDRA Yelamallappachetty Mattikere Hennur Kere tank SPS RAJA CANAL K R PURAM Sadarmangal Ulsoor tank Chamaraja Sagar tank reservoir Byrasandra tank CUBBON PARK V Valley Vrishabhavathi river KADABEESANAHALLI SPS Vartur tank MYLASANDRA KEMPAMBUDHI LALBAGH Hosakerehalli Bellandur tank K & C VALLEY tank V-VALLEY Arkavathi river MADIVALA Bomanahalli tank Nagarbhavi river Begur Hulimavu tank tank Muttanallur Kere Source: Anon 2011, 71-City Water-Excreta Survey, 2005-06, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi 304 KARNATAKA THE CITY Municipal area 561 sq km Total area 740 sq km Bengaluru Population (2005) 6.5 million Population (2011), as projected in 2005-06 7.5 million THE WATER Demand angalored’, a slang for being rendered jobless, is a term Total water demand as per city agency (BWSSB) 1125 MLD (2010) made famous by the city’s outsourcing business; Per capita water demand as per BWSSB 173 LPCD ironically, this very business has brought jobs and Total water demand as per CPHEEO @ 175 LPCD 1138 MLD ‘B Sources and supply growth to the capital city of Karnataka. The software boom hit the city in the 1990s, followed by massive urban growth turning the Water sources Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers, city into another mega sprawl, a far cry from India’s ‘garden city’ groundwater with its boulevards and pleasant weather. Water sourced from surface sources 93% Renamed Bengaluru in 2007, this is the third largest city and Water sourced from the ground 7% the fifth largest metropolitan area in India. It comprises of a Total water supplied 900 MLD (2010) municipal area of 561 sq km and a number of municipal councils Per capita supply 138 LPCD and villages, all under the Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagara Leakage loss 40% Actual supply (after deducting leakage losses) 540 MLD Palike, or BBMP. The city has grown exponentially. Between 1990 and 2000, its Per capita supply (after leakage losses) 83 LPCD Population served by water supply system 100%* decadal population growth was recorded at being over 37 per Per capita supply in served area 83 LPCD cent1, the second highest in the country after Delhi. To Demand-supply gap (after leakage losses) 585 MLD accommodate this surge – driven by new and old businesses – the Treatment city has had to extend its reach repeatedly to acquire new territory Number of WTPs 4 in the neighbourhood. The 2006 City Development Plan has Total treatment capacity 810 chronicled this phenomenal growth. It maps how the city, from a Actual treatment NA population of some 0.4 million spread over 70 sq km in 1941, has Future demand and supply Demand (2011), as projected in 2005-06 1298 MLD grown to one holding over 6 million people on 561 sq km in 2001 Augmentation needed to meet the demand 398 MLD (see Map: Growth of Bengaluru). Required increase in supply 44% This has had the inevitable fallout. With growth has come the loss of agricultural fields, open spaces and (what is of utmost THE SEWAGE concern) the city's lifelines – its lakes and ponds. These are now Generation either repositories for sewage or have been turned into real estate. Sewage generated as per CPCB 819 MLD The same goes for the wetlands and open areas outside the city. Sewage generated as per city agency 1110 MLD As a result, even with the huge investments in bringing water to Collection the city, its water crisis has become real and a regular affair. Length of sewerage network (trunk and small) 3610 km Groundwater contamination, with untreated sewage making its Population covered by sewerage network 45% Area covered by sewerage network 40% way into open channels, compounds the crisis. Treatment In 2005, Bengaluru was swamped by the worst floods in its Number of STPs 14 memory. This was a clear warning that its water sponges – its Total treatment capacity 721 MLD 2 protective lakes – were lost. Actual sewage treated 302 MLD But the city is fighting back. Its people, citizens of one of the Disposal Vrishabhavathi most technology-rich urban centres in the country, are demanding Valley, Hebbal, change, and the most important struggle they have today is to Koramangala and Challaghatta win back their waterbodies. tanks Source: Anon 2011, 71-City Water-Excreta Survey, 2005-06, Centre for Science WATER and Environment, New Delhi; Anon 2006, City Development Plan for Bangalore, JNNURM, Bengaluru; and V C Kumar 2011, ‘Wastewater treatment’, presentation made to Union ministry of urban development, Delhi, mimeo DEMAND AND SUPPLY Notes: *In municipal area; BWSSB: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board According to estimates arrived at in 2010, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) computes the demand for water to be 1,125 million litre per day (MLD). It claimed a supply of 900 MLD, without accounting for distribution losses of THE DECCAN BENGALURU | 305 MAP: GROWTH OF BENGALURU The city has rapidly increased in size and population over the last 60 years HUNASAMARANAHALLI N Suggatta Year Population Area in sq km 1537 NA NA Attur 1871 144,479 NA YELAHANKA 1941 410,967 69.93 1971 1,664,208 177.30 Jakkur 1981 2,921,751 365.65 Thindlu Sreerampura 1991 4,130,288 445.91 BYATARAYANAPURA 2001 5,686,844 530.85 Chikkasandra Kodigehalli Hebbal Agriculture University Nagasandra Hennur Peenya Sadashivanagara Palace Ground KRISHNARAJAPURA Hegganahalli Vijanapura DASARAHALLI Vimanapura Rajajinagar Golf Course Hudi Kadugodi Sreenivaspura HEROHALLI BENGALURU MAHADEVAPURA Malagalu Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Vijayanagar Vibhutipura Town Hall Bangalore University Lal Bagh Bull Temple Koramangla Adugodi Hosakerehalli Industrial Training Institute PATTANAGERE Agara Kadarenahalli KENGERI UTTRAHALLI Haralakunte BOMMANAHALLI KONANAKUNTE Town 1537 KOTHNUR Singasandra Town 1862 GOTTIKERE Municipality 1941 Bengaluru urban agglomeration 1971 Bengaluru urban agglomeration 1981 Bengaluru urban agglomeration 1991 Bengaluru urban agglomeration 2001 Source: Anon 2006, City Development Plan for Bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Bengaluru 306 | EXCRETA MATTERS 71 CITIES 3 40 per cent. While coverage in the municipal area, says the MAP: WATER SUPPLY government, is 100 per cent, city authorities are struggling to Currently, 810 MLD is pumped across four stages, and reach water to the newer development zones. transported for about a 100 km distance THE SOURCES Hesaraghatta K u Lake Bengaluru’s location in the semi-arid peninsular plateau region m r e u i v Govinda Palya d r i makes it naturally water-scarce. The Arkavathi and Cauvery v h a at t v h a rivers are there, but flow several kilometres away; the Dakshina k i r ri v A Tavarakere Pinakini traces the north-east border. The Vrishabhavathi, a minor er BENGALURU Garudachar Palya tributary of the Arkavathi, is the only stream originating within Chamaraja Sagar Hegganahalli reservoir T G Halli and flowing through the city. All the rivers are seasonal and WTP become dry in the month of February. r Electronic City e v i But the lack of rivers should not have become a concern as r i Tataguni h this is a city of lakes. According to land use classification, as much t a v a as 4 per cent of the metropolitan area – some 4,000 hectare (ha) – k r is under waterbodies. It is this wealth of water that provided the A city its drinking water in the past. Most importantly, these waterbodies recharged the groundwater. Harohalli Bengaluru’s first official water supply was from these waterbodies – the 100-year-old Hesaraghatta Lake (Chamarajendra reservoir) on the Arkavathi at a distance of Stream (river) Pipeline (Stage 4 Phase I) 18-20 km from the city. In 1932, the T G Halli reservoir (Chamaraja Existing pipeline (Stage 1, 2 & 3) Sagar reservoir) was built at the confluence of the river Arkavathi Bhima T K Halli T G Halli pipeline river WTP and Kumudvathi 35-40 km away.4 Hesaraghatta pipeline But soon the city ran out of patience with its local T K Halli Pumping station waterbodies. It wanted a ‘reliable’ water source. The Cauvery Water intake Netkal Water treatment plant (WTP) balancing project – officially named as Cauvery Water Supply Scheme reservoir (CWSS) – was conceived, with the first phase starting in 1969. The Channel from Shiva anicut only problem was that the Cauvery river, located about 90 km Cauvery river Shiva away, required water to be pumped up to a height of 490 m. balancing But this did not deter city planners in making the river’s reservoir waters available to the city in three different phases and at increasing costs. Source: Anon 2006, City Development Plan for Bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru Presently, water is drawn from Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Phase I. National Urban Renewal Mission, Bengaluru Work on the next stage, called Stage 4, Phase II, has begun; the city hopes to complete it in March 2012 and augment its supply by river water is contested, as farmers say their share is being taken 500 MLD. Currently, on an average, about 810 MLD is pumped in away for cities and industries.