Six-year-old Bhuvaneshwari walked a kilometre from her home in Ejipura to fetch water. The area had not received any Cauvery water supplied by the BWSSB for the last two days and the family was out of their stock. The little girl carrying two pots walked to a water tank that stores borewell water. But, there was no water there either. Disappointment was writ large on the little girl’s face as she walked back from the borewell tap.
She was a victim of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s decision to shut down all the pumps supplying water to the city. Residents across the city had trouble finding a private water tanker. At several places, there were fights and in Koramangala, a tanker with 6,000 litres of water was auctioned as there were too many claimants and too little water.
It was sold for Rs 1,500. Even the public taps, which are given priority by the board, went dry as there was no scheduled supply. Bengaluru needs over 1,350 million litres of a day (MLD) and this demand goes up by 10-20% during summer. But the city gets only 950 MLD regularly and on Tuesday, it received only 200 million litres. “On Wednesday, the city received the full supply of 950 MLD. But, there is a huge gap in supply created on Tuesday. It will take two to three days for the situation to turn normal,” said a BWSSB engineer. The BWSSB had shut down all pumping stations for eight to 18 hours to integrate the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage IV Phase I and to get power connection for CWSS Stage IV Phase II.
When most Bengalureans had a terrible day without water, around 1 lakh litres of water went down the drain, literally, in Srinagar. A BWSSB valve that was left open caused this wastage from the main supply lines. Residents of the area, who were desperate for water, filled many pots and vessels.
“It was necessary. Water had entered the air valve and we had to remove the water. It was part of preventive maintenance works. Not more than 1 lakh litres of water went out,” said T. Venkataraju, Engineer-in-Chief, BWSSB. Autorickshaw drivers parked their vehicles under this shower to get their vehicles cleaned.