Greater Bangalore soars high: Another Cauvery drinking water project
For Greater Bangalore, the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) has its bag full of goodies, the latest in the addition is the new Cauvery Drinking water project. In a move to provide the city with additional 500 MLD of water to facilitate 100 villages, which have been merged with the city, the board has started preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
The state government has given its nod to the release of 10 tmc of water from the Cauvery river, for city needs. In addition to it, the BWSSB board will knock the doors of concerned national and international agencies with its DPR report, for financial aid in order to take the project to the next level after getting the green signal from the state government.
Insight
Under the new project, the BWSSB is expected to draw nearly 6.44 tmc of water (by the end of 2017) out of 10 tmc released by the state government. As per BWSSB officials, without the additional water supply, Cauvery water cannot be released to the 110 villages, which are merged with the Bangalore City.
The project cost may rise to a whooping Rs 4000 crore, since the BWSSB will have to install new pipelines for the 110 villages. For this purpose, the BWSSB is in talks with the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency for financial aid to turn the dream of another Cauvery drinking water project into a reality. The project is likely to be called as ‘The Cauvery fifth stage drinking water project’.
Present Scenario
As per the present scenario, the only biggest source of drinking water in the city is the Cauvery and the BWSSB draws nearly 1400 MLD of water for the 5 Cauvery projects. The BWSSB is not releasing water to the 110 villages (which were added to the city), since the available water is hardly sufficient to meet the requirements of the core city areas and the newly added town municipal council.
Like all other Cauvery drinking water projects, the additional water sanctioned will flow from Shiva Anicut to Torekadanahalli, and from there it will be supplied to different parts of the city.
