The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will soon be preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on utilisation of the additional 6 tmcft of Cauvery water allocated for the drinking water needs of Bengaluru.
The Karnataka government has issued an order to utilise 24 tmcft of water as against 18 tmcft, which was being used earlier. The order was passed to implement the 2018 Supreme Court (SC) order that modified the Cauvery tribunal award of 2012, allowing Bengaluru to use 24 tmcft of Cauvery river water.
BWSSB Chairman N. Jayaram told The Hindu that the present infrastructure including the Cauvery Water Supply Stage V is only sufficient for the utilisation of 18 tmcft. After Stage V is completed, 110 villages and core areas of Bengaluru will use 18 tmcft but to avail the fresh allocation, new project should be planned.
Mr. Jayaram further said many villages located adjacent to Bengaluru have been demanding Cauvery water and now with increased allocation, it may be possible to cater to their needs. On the other hand, the drinking water demand of the city will go up in the next 10 years. The fresh allocation has come as a boon to the fast growing Bengaluru which is also seeing increase in population.
Mr. Jayaram said the BWSSB keeping in mind various factors like surge in demand in future and present need of adjacent villages will draft a DPR. A source in the BWSSB said Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar may soon direct the BWSSB to call tender to rope in a consultant to prepare the DPR. The DPR will be prepared after carrying out ground assessment, calculating the quantum of increase in demand in existing BWSSB supply areas and how many adjacent villages can be included for the new project.
