High Water Stress in Bengaluru and What can CSR do about it?

As we grapple with acute shortage of water in a situation unprecedented in the last 30 to 40 years, I sometimes wonder how did we come to this???

Interesting Facts on India:??

High Water Stress: India has about 18 percent of the world’s population but only 4 percent of the world’s water resources (NITI Aayog Report, 2017), making it among the most water stressed in the world. That’s a shocker, isn't it???

Interesting Facts on Bengaluru:??

Overpopulated:? Since 1990, the city's population has tripled to 13.6 million, which led to rampant unplanned townships encroaching on lakes and green belt areas.?

Construction:? The city landscape had a green cover of 68% in the 70s and lesser than 7% of constructed area, cut to today we have around 93.3% constructed area and less than 7% of green area.? That's a whopping increase of 1055% in built-up area.? More worrying is the fact that we have around 86% of surface area which is paved and does not allow infiltration of water.?

From the 70s to today, 88 per cent of vegetation has been lost. Bengaluru has only 1.5 million trees supporting a population of 9.5 million, indicating one tree for every seven persons in the city. This is insufficient even to sequester respiratory carbon which is 540-900g per person per day.

Cauvery and Ground Water Situation:?

Around 55% of population depends on Cauvery basin, getting their supply from network of water pipes from Cauvery to Bengaluru. This part of population is not receiving enough water as the catchment area of Cauvery water basin is suffering due to deforestation. The basin is unable to retain water due to deforestation. The water is now able to be retained in this area only during monsoons.??

Remaining 45% of Bengaluru depends on ground water for their water needs.? A study by the IISC's Centre for Ecological Sciences states that water spread area has fallen from 2,324 hectares in 1973 to just about 696 hectares in 2023, that is a 70 per cent drop! This drop has occurred primarily due to 79% of water bodies disappearing and a weak monsoon depleting groundwater levels.??

During last year’s monsoon, Karnataka received rainfall that was 18 per cent below normal, the least since 2015. Due to the same, some 7,000 of the city’s 16,000-odd borewells have run dry resulting in lack of water for 4 million people who live on outskirts of the city. ?

What is the Solution: ?

Total water demand: According to a report, Bengaluru requires about 2,632 million liters per day (MLD), with residential use accounting for 72 per cent, industrial use 17 per cent, commercial/institutional use eight per cent, and construction two per cent.?

Currently the city receives 1,460 million liters of water per day from the Cauvery River, covering nearly half of Bengaluru's needs. ?

Groundwater: For the other half, groundwater is critical as they do not get water supply from Cauvery River. The city draws an estimated 1,392 million liters of water per day but naturally replenishes only 148 million liters of water per day through green spaces and water bodies.?

How do we replenish this ground water? How can CSR and NGOs help? ?

For years, lakes helped give Bengaluru steady water supply. Bengaluru had over?1,400 water bodies?in the 1800s, of which only about 194 remained in 2016.? ?

Slit in the lake does not allow ground water recharge, rejuvenation of lakes is especially important for ground water recharge. There are examples of Jakkur Lake and Sarakki Lake which were rejuvenated, and this rejuvenation has resulted in significant improvement in ground water table resulting in improvement in ground water supply. The temperature near Sarakki lake has decreased by 2?to 3 degrees that is lower than surrounding areas.?Desilting of lakes on a war footing basis is the need of the hour. ?

Ground water table was at 100 to 150 feet when we had lakes in Bangalore, after encroachment of lakes the ground water went down to 600 feet, as of today it has gone to more than 1800 feet. It is high time to refill the lakes. ?

With percolation of water decreasing, it is very important to rejuvenate lakes to make up for the same. ?

Corporates need to take up sponsorship of lakes on war footing basis and with long-term commitment to be able to be maintain the same. ?This is supercritical from survival point of view.

Bengaluru receives 15 TMC (one thousand million cubic feet of rain) of rainwater every year and the city needs 18 TMC of water,?lot of water is available in the form of rain, what we need is more lakes and healthy lakes to recharge the groundwater.?

Another good solution which is very viable is harvesting rainwater. Good rainwater harvesting can give additional water for 4 to 5 months. Sponsoring rainwater harvesting for government schools, buildings, metro, railway stations by corporates is another solution which can be undertaken by CSR. ?

Deforestation of Cauvery basin: Increase green cover by taking up plantation on large scale and taking up plantation where we can have deep impact such as on catchment areas of Cauvery River. ?

Installation of STPs for Lakes: Lakes of Bengaluru are dying due to discharge of effluents and solid waste dumping, the sewage which is presently discharged into large water bodies of lakes can be arrested before entering lakes by installing STPs. A quick survey into requirement of STPs and distribution networks and sponsorship of the same can solve a lot of issues not only for Bengaluru but also surrounding areas. ?Good example for this is installation of Yelahanka STP which has brought very good results for the area.

Public Awareness Campaigns: Educating people about water conservation and sanitation practices is crucial and can be a?part of CSR initiatives. ?

A circular water economy. Wastewater could be seen as a resource. The city is struggling to deal with the growing volume of wastewater. Central sewage plants handle around 1,239 million liters per day. In Bengaluru, 63 per cent of wastewater is treated by central plants and 13 per cent by smaller facilities. However, 24 per cent goes untreated, and only 33 per cent is recycled. Thus, much of the city's wastewater pollutes lakes and seeps into groundwater. ?

There is an urgent need for sustainable water management and infrastructure upgrades. Expanding wastewater treatment and recycling in Bengaluru can significantly reduce the strain on freshwater supplies. ?

Shift from flood irrigation to micro-irrigation (sponsorship by CSR) ?

About 80% of the freshwater demand comes from the agricultural sector. It is time that farmers do away with the conventional flood irrigation system and switch over to a more efficient drip irrigation process. If it serves as an impetus, drip irrigation has been found to be up to 95% efficient in water application whereas, flood irrigation is only able to manage 40% efficiency. The remaining water is not only wasted, but it also erodes a lot of soil and its nutrients along with it.?

Sponsorship of drip irrigation systems particularly for marginal farmers will also ensure food security during these difficult times. ?

Public-Private Partnerships: Collaboration between government, businesses, and NGOs can accelerate progress.?

Community Participation: Empowering local communities to manage water resources effectively is vital and this can be accomplished through community programs lead by NGOs. ?

Dedicated efforts and sponsorship of the costs required for these steps in critical for survival of the city. Lack of water not only impacts general population of the city but is also resulting in increasing chorus for work from home which will not be beneficial in the long term. ?

CSR has also stepped up when there has been a requirement as seen during Covid, it is critical now to take up the above efforts in order to contribute to a much-needed cause. ?

In case you would like to contribute to this effort, please comment on the article so that we can get in touch with you for the same.