As Bengaluru is combating severe water scarcity ahead of summer, many housing communities in the IT capital are already clueless about handling the situation in peak summer. The borewells have dried up and the prices of water tankers have skyrocketed already, making things worse for the residents, especially in the east Bengaluru area. A few high-rise communities have reportedly hired guards to ensure nobody wastes water, and a fine will also be slapped on those who are found using water irresponsibly.
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Amid the uncertainty of the situation in a drought-hit state, the one community is already gearing up to face the worst in future by adapting to a sustainable rain harvesting method. The residents of Chaitanya Samarpan, a gated society in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area, have decided to come together to avoid water woes in the future. A special fund of ₹10 lakh has already been allotted to enhance the rain harvesting method.
It is never too late to adapt to sustainability.
According to an alert sent by the management to its residents, the infiltration wells will be deepened and more borewell recharge units will be added. This is expected to help the residents to not go dry, when the groundwater level goes down further in an area that is bustled with skyscrapers around.
However, this is not the first time for Whitefield area to face such situation. “Borewell yield has significantly come down over the past few years, and 2020 was impactful. However, it is never too late to adapt to sustainability,” read the notice.
‘Balance is the key,’ say residents
While many communities are imposing fines and keeping a watch on house owners if they are overusing the water, the residents at Chaitanya say that it is essential to be aware of water harvesting methods.
Ramesh B, a senior engineer and resident of the community, said, “Communities hiring guards to enforce water-saving methods is not alone the solution. It must be two ways. Both residents and management of communities must together solve the problem. It is pointless to harvest rainwater if the residents are ending up wasting the water. It is also pointless to hire guards and force people not to waste water if communities do not adapt to futuristic methods.”
He also said that it doesn’t make any sense to blame the rapid urbanisation, which anyways tends to happen. “We often chest beat and say Bengaluru is a global city. The government must make sure that the infrastructure should be global as well. An arid country like Dubai has solved many problems regarding the drinking water for its people and it is high time for our governments and civic bodies to pull up their socks,” he added.
Earlier, an official from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had told Hindustan Times that the tech hub gets around 1,680 MLD of water from 14,781 borewells in and around the city and that as many as 6,997 of them are running dry. The government has already taken control of water tankers and even fixed a price cap to restrict the exorbitant prices.
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