Bengaluru will be a water surplus city, but celebrate water conservation

Even though Bengaluru will become a water surplus city with the commissioning of Cauvery water supply phase 5 on Wednesday, a serious task is at hand to make water conservation everyone’s task.
A concrete step has been announced by Karnataka Minister for Electronics, IT/BT and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge. He has said that the state government intends to establish a Center of Excellence in Water to focus on conservation, sustainable management of water resources, improving water quality and advancing technologies for water generation.
In less than 25 years, India will face severe water stress. Without immediate action by both Central and State governments, the country risks a major crisis, Kharge said. The State Government is also seeking other innovative solutions from startups to tackle this critical challenge through a water and sanitation summit scheduled this month end.
Bengaluru did witness water harvesting urgency during this summer with the government making all efforts to conserve and store water. However, these conservation campaigns have become seasonal and political.
Now, the central Ministry of Jal Shakti has set on a big mission. The Government of India is boosting water conservation with 1 million rainwater harvesting structures, including check dams & recharge wells, under Jal Sanchay-Jan Bhagidari initiative. This initiative aims to enhance groundwater recharge nationwide.
India is the world’s largest consumer of groundwater, using more than a quarter of the global total each year. More than 60% of irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies depend on groundwater.
The groundwater level in Bengaluru has been declining over the years, but there have been some recent improvements. In 2020, the groundwater level in Bengaluru East was 42 meters below ground level, and in 2023 it was 30 meters below ground level. The groundwater level has increased in some areas due to heavy rain, lake rejuvenation programmes, and percolation wells of rainwater harvesting, both at individual and at community levels. For example, in Lalbagh, the water level has risen from 45 feet in 2019 to 15 feet at the current estimate.
Both the state and the union government have to push for water conservation in every manner.
Meanwhile, the fifth phase of Cauvery water supply project will benefit more residents of South Bengaluru, particularly in areas that face frequent water shortages, including the higher reaches of the city, Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said. The project involved the construction of India’s largest water treatment plant, with a capacity of 775 MLD. It has come up at a cost of Rs 5,550 crore.