Water Scarcity
With a population of 5,686,000, Bangalore is India's fifth largest city. As per the estimates of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), the total demand of water is 840 million litres per day (MLD). Bangalore is prominent among the World’s fastest growing cities. Due to unorganized and un-scientific growth over the last few years drinking water problem has crossed danger limits.
Bangalore gets water from three main sources. Major source among them is Kaveri River. Everyday around 810 MLD kaveri water is channeled to Bangalore. This journey of water over 120 Km, costs nearly 500 crore rupees per year for electricity alone. The other two sources for water are T.G.Halli Tank and Underground Water Resource. Around 120 MLD from T.G.Halli and 50 MLD from underground water resource is used up by Bangalore everyday. Of later however, T.G.Halli water has considerably reduced and the chances of complete drying up of resource are foreseen. According to a study conducted by the Centre for Symbiosis of Technology, Environment and Management (STEM), a Bangalore-based research group, the demand supply gap is met by groundwater exploitation. It is estimated that 40 per cent of the population of Bangalore is dependent on groundwater.