The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Pilferage leaving these cities water-starved

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Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Pilferage leaving these cities water-starved

Special Correspondent

Most of the water drawn for Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum is being lost, says study

Water shortage has led to exploitation of ground water
It has offered roaring business to those who sell water through tankers

BANGALORE: Even as residents of Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum make a hue and cry over insufficient supply of potable water, nearly half of the water drawn for these cities is literally going down the drain by way of leakage, pilferage and unauthorised connections.

Water shortage has, on the one hand, led to an increase in exploitation of ground water by those who can afford to dig borewells. On the other, it has offered roaring business to those who sell water tanks as low-income groups tend to store whatever water is supplied.

Although 96 million litres a day (MLD) of water is drawn from Malaprabha and Neerasagar reservoirs for the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad, only 45 MLD reaches the consumers.

Reservoirs

The situation is no different in Belgaum where the consumers get only 19 MLD of water out of the 47.2 MLD drawn from Rakkasakoppa and Hidkal reservoirs. With this, each consumer gets 71 litres of water a day in Belgaum, 70 litres in Dharwad and 66 litres in Hubli.

This information was revealed by a study on the water status and emerging trends conducted by a team led by K.V. Raju of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore. The study pointed out that poor transmission and distribution networks, high physical losses, low pressure, erratic supply, non-metered municipal connections and lower recovery of cost have been the major reasons for poor water supply in these cities. In fact, several wards of the twin cities have not received water for five days in a stretch.

With the municipal authorities failing to quench their thirst, residents of these cities had no option but to depend on ground water.

A number of middle and high-income group families had dug borewells with Hubli accounting for 8,967 borewells, Dharwad for 2,716 and Belgaum for 14,500 borewells.

The dependency on ground water was as high as 51 per cent in Hubli with 19 MLD being harvested from borewells followed by Dharwad where it is 32 per cent (6 MLD), the study said.

The cost incurred on ground water at the household level was Rs. 66.78 crore as against Rs. 19 crore by commercial establishments a year, in the three cities. If high-income groups resorted to digging borewells, low-income groups resorted to storing the water available, offering roaring business to sellers of water tanks. About 25 firms were into selling water tanks in Dharwad, 15 in Hubli and 50 in Belgaum, it said.

Water shortage has also provided good business to those who supply water through tankers. More than 50 tankers operate throughout the day supplying water in the twin cities.

The quantity of water supplied by them is 4.37 MLD in Dharwad, 7.26 MLD in Hubli and 4.2 MLD in Belgaum, during summer. Some households are also involved in the “water business” through tankers.

Fifteen companies were involved in the bottled drinking water trade in these cities. They sell water worth Rs. 1 crore (0.21 MLD) in Dharwad, Rs. 2.4 crore (3.28 MLD) in Hubli and Rs. 3 crore (2.4 MLD) in Belgaum, the study said.

Borewells

Borewell-drilling companies too were making roaring business.

Exploitation of groundwater had resulted in degradation of water sources to the extent of 39 per cent in Hubli, 45 per cent in Dharwad and 22 per cent in Belgaum.

In general, the groundwater was too “hard” in Hubli and Dharwad with high calcium content.

In Belgaum, it was contaminated with fluoride, the study said.

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