The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : People stock up water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

People stock up water

Swathi Shivanand

Many left in the lurch as taps go dry from Tuesday

Supply remains irregular even before shutdown
Work likely to be completed by Friday

BANGALORE: Even as the taps run dry in several parts of the city, people have switched to economy mode and stocked up water as much as they could in buckets, tanks and anything that could be used for storage.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on Tuesday shut down a part of its operations at its pumping station in Torekadinahalli, leading to a shortage of about 270 million litres of water to the city, affecting 30 per cent of the areas. The shut down is to link a new water line that will supply an additional 100 million litres of water every day from Cauvery to 72 wards in newly added areas of Bangalore from December under the Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project.

Bhavana K. of Sanjayanagar says, “After I read in the papers that there will be no water for three days, we stocked up in buckets and water bottles. We even flush only half the tank in our commode to save water.”

While scores of people have stored water in their overhead tanks and sumps, those with no storage capacity are left high and dry.

Gowramma M. of Rajajinagar says, “I have one small storage tank in the bathroom. It can last for a maximum of two days. But what do I do after that? Can you supply water for us?”

Although the BWSSB was shutting down water supply for three days, it seems like the board has not ensured that the supply before the shut down was regular. Many people have complained that although they were supposed to have received water on Tuesday, the last time the water board opened its valves was on Sunday.

Dhanalakshmi Gnanesh of Maruthi Extension says, “We were planning to stock up water on Tuesday for the next three days. But since we received water on Sunday, our stock is over and we do not even have drinking water. We will have to call in the tankers.”

Meanwhile, work at T.K. Halli pumping station is still on and will most likely be completed by Thursday. Water supply will only be restored by November 30 or December 1.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka