India’s IT Hub sparks severe water shortages as key supplies vanish

• Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, is facing a water crisis due to unplanned urbanization.
• Civil society activist Sandeep Anirudh argues that climate change is exacerbating the situation.
• The price of mobile water, supplied through private tankers on wheels, has surged by over 200 percent.

An unprecedented water crisis is gripping millions of people in India’s tech hub of Bengaluru as a key supply of the resource dries up, a situation experts attribute to unplanned urbanization in the southern metropolis.

The city, also known as Bangalore and more commonly recognized as India’s “Silicon Valley,” resides in Karnataka state and hosts thousands of IT companies, startups, and international firms such as Infosys and Alphabet’s Google. It demands approximately 2 billion liters of water daily to meet the needs of its 14 million residents.

The Cauvery River, originating in the state, serves as the primary water source for over 70 percent of the city’s population. However, approximately 4 million residents residing on the outskirts of the city depend on groundwater extracted by borewells and distributed via tankers. These sources have been running dry due to last year’s weak monsoon, which depleted groundwater levels.

“In those areas where the public supply of water is dependent on borewells, there we are facing problems because borewells have gone a bit dry,” Tusar Giri Nath, chief commissioner of the Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corp., told Arab News on Sunday.

“The shortfall is around 15 to 20 percent from the earlier time, and that is being managed by increasing the portable water supply to the places by supplying through tankers.”

Vivin Andrews, a resident of the city’s Hennur area, has been compelled to pay additional funds for a private tanker to deliver water to his home every two days.

“I have lived in this city all my life and my family has been here for generations, but this type of situation has not occurred before,” Andrews told the news.

“We need to make the government accountable and should stop mindless building activities without bothering about the capacity of the city.”

Sandeep Anirudh, a civil society activist and the convenor of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, asserted that climate change is exacerbating the current situation. He pointed out that the shortage of rainfall last year affected both the Cauvery River and the underground water.

“But this situation arose because we covered our lakes that used to store water for the city and feed the ground … Bengaluru is facing an existential crisis because of the lack of planning and unplanned development over the decades,” Anirudh told the News.

Since the early 1990s, Bengaluru has experienced rapid urbanization due to its evolution into a major tech center, leading to exponential growth.

Decades ago, Bengaluru boasted a reputation for its wide network of man-made lakes that supplied water to its residents. Its abundance of greenery, surrounding forests, and pleasant climate earned it the moniker “India’s garden city.”

Anirudh stated that the city previously had approximately 2,000 lakes, but only 400 remain today.

“The people are now dependent on water supply through tankers to run their day-to-day life,” he added.

Anupam Manur, an assistant professor at the Bengaluru-based think tank Takshashila Institution, reported that the price of mobile water, supplied through private tankers on wheels, has surged by over 200 percent.

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