At 6.30 am in a gated neighborhood off Varthur Highway in Bengaluru, the day begins not with birdsong or early visitors, however with the piercing reverse beep of a water tanker easing into the driveway. Residents sporting shorts and T-shirts lean over balconies, checking if the blue-and-white lorry carries the brand they now belief greater than any model of bottled water: Sanchari Cauvery – BWSSB.For a lot of Bengalureans, this has turn out to be the primary ritual of summer time — not turning on a reliable faucet, however ready for a water tanker to reach on schedule. On paper, Sanchari Cauvery, the Bangalore Water Provide and Sewerage Board’s (BWSSB) state-run tanker service, is projected as a hit.
In simply six months between Might 9 and November 20, 2025, the board logged 24,743 tanker bookings, deploying 250 branded autos at fastened charges and incomes about Rs 2.5 crore in income. Practically 14,000 of these bookings had been positioned on-line. Costs — Rs 660 for 4,000 litres — undercut the non-public market and introduced a level of predictability to a notoriously enterprise.
However past the reassuring blue-and-white branding, a more durable query looms: Is Bengaluru quietly normalising everlasting tanker dependence as an alternative of fixing its damaged water system?A metropolis constructed on water, now operating dryLengthy earlier than tankers and pipelines, Bengaluru was formed by water. Till 1896, lakes and wells had been the town’s main sources, earlier than piped provide arrived from Hesaraghatta. These water our bodies — domestically known as tanks — weren’t decorative lakes however rigorously engineered earthen dams constructed throughout valleys to irrigate paddy fields downstream. All had been interconnected, forming a cascading hydrological community that fed three main valleys.
At its peak, Bengaluru had near 1,000 such tanks.
Centuries later, that system lies in ruins. In a 2013 paper titled ‘Dying of lakes and way forward for Bangalore’, retired bureaucrat V Balasubramanian concluded that the town’s lakes now largely retailer “sewage wastewater”.The proof is seen in all places. Of the practically 800 lakes within the BBMP and Bengaluru City district areas, 125 have gone utterly dry final summer time, with 25 extra on the brink. Of those, 100 are in Bengaluru City district and 25 inside BBMP limits.Some dry lakebeds have in a single day turn out to be cricket pitches for neighbourhood boys. Others lie cracked and dusty, silent markers of an ecological collapseBBMP has custody of 184 lakes; 50 of them are in dire straits. Past BBMP limits, Bengaluru City district has over 600 lakes, practically 100 of which dried up this 12 months alone.There are vibrant spots, officers insist. Six lakes in Bengaluru City district are full and 19 are between 50% and 90% capability — largely because of the Koramangala–Challaghatta and Hebbal–Nagavara valley initiatives. However such examples stay exceptions.Nallurahalli Lake close to Whitefield and Vibhutipura Lake close to HAL have became playgrounds. Sankey Tank, within the coronary heart of the town, is amongst these drying quickly. No less than 15 lakes are actually being artificially full of handled sewage water by BWSSB; these removed from remedy vegetation should anticipate rain.A metropolis rising quicker than its pipesBengaluru’s water disaster is inseparable from its progress.Based on the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the town’s inhabitants is projected to rise from round 1.22 crore in 2021 to just about 1.47 crore by 2031 — a greater than 20% bounce. Its share of Karnataka’s inhabitants will rise from 18.2% to twenty.7% in a decade.“Bengaluru’s progress is essentially pushed by livelihood alternatives,” mentioned Ok Narasimha Phani, joint director at DES, noting that migration — from inside and outdoors the state — fuels the growth.However planning has not saved tempo. “Bengaluru’s city planning framework may be very previous,” mentioned Dr S Madheswaran, adviser to Jain College and former ISEC director. Peri-urban areas absorbed into the town stay blind spots, falling by way of governance cracks and lacking fundamental providers.The result’s a metropolis that sprawls quicker than its water infrastructure.From tanker mafia to state-run vansWhen piped water and borewells fail, tankers fill the hole.In the course of the failed monsoon of early 2024, practically half of Bengaluru’s 13,900 borewells ran dry. Non-public tanker costs surged from just a few hundred rupees to as a lot as Rs 3,000 per load. The state needed to commandeer irrigation and industrial borewells simply to maintain neighbourhoods provided.BWSSB knowledge reveals how fragile this backup stays. Of 11,816 public borewells, 2,035 have already dried up and one other 3,700 yield “little or no” water — practically half successfully non-functional.
Sanchari Cauvery was born out of this emergency. Launched by deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar in Might 2025, it promised BIS-certified Cauvery water delivered by GPS-tracked tankers at fastened costs. “We’re supplying BWSSB-certified Cauvery water at affordable costs… to make sure individuals don’t fall prey to exploitation,” he mentioned.Residents have welcomed the worth cap. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda highlighted the burden in Parliament: “For a household of 4, this interprets to Rs 20,000 per thirty days only for water.”But the geography of tanker demand reveals deep inequality. BWSSB knowledge reveals the East zone alone accounted for 13,023 bookings — greater than half the town’s complete — whereas the West zone positioned simply 1,194 orders. Bulk orders, primarily from house complexes and industrial customers, made up 10,901 bookings.
Core neighbourhoods with legacy Cauvery connections cope higher. Outer wards and newly merged villages — typically dwelling to premium gated communities — stay tanker-dependent. In a merciless inversion, wealthiest households stay in probably the most precarious water landscapes.‘We plan our lives round water’In BTM Format, Pallavi Jaghanath says her household receives tanker water as soon as each three days. “Every load prices about Rs 1,000. By the tip of the month, we’re spending near Rs 10,000 simply on water,” she says. “And that is nonetheless not clear, steady provide.”In Pattandur, Shrihari Vittal Rao, who manages water for a five-storey constructing with 20 flats, says tanker prices fluctuate sharply. “We spend Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 a month. In summer time, operators enhance costs by Rs 100 to Rs 150 per tanker. There isn’t any choice however to pay.”
In Kamadhenu Format in Mahadevapura, residents say the scenario has dragged on for over 18 months. Month-to-month water payments there contact Rs 35,000, forcing residents to ration water and defer routine actions.Rishabh Aditya, a software program engineer residing in East Bengaluru, describes the pressure of uncertainty. “We now have an toddler at dwelling. Tankers don’t arrive at fastened instances. Generally we keep awake until 1am ready. Water has turn out to be one thing you chase.”For senior residents, the burden is monetary in addition to bodily. “Relying on tankers day-after-day is draining our financial savings,” says Jaishankar V, a retired resident. “For individuals residing on pensions, Rs 20,000 a month for water is just not sustainable.”
Politics of thirst?The tanker disaster has spilled into the legislature and election marketing campaign additionally. MLAs throughout events have demanded motion in opposition to the “tanker mafia”. Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar has introduced obligatory tanker registration, worth regulation and even authorities takeover of borewell-supplied tankers.Based on Shivakumar, practically 25% of Bengaluru’s inhabitants depends upon tanker water. He has promised that Cauvery Stage V will tackle shortages within the 110 newly added villages, whereas unused allocations from the Cauvery basin — as much as 6 tmc — will probably be redirected to the town.Opposition leaders, together with BJP’s Arvind Bellad, have accused the federal government of failing to curb tanker dependence regardless of water availability, preserving the political highlight firmly on Bengaluru’s faucets — and vans.Throughout 2024 meeting election marketing campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi additionally sharpened the assault, accusing the Congress authorities of mismanagement. “They’ve modified the tech metropolis right into a tanker metropolis and left it to the water mafia,” he mentioned, turning Bengaluru’s water disaster right into a nationwide speaking level.A Deadline for metropolisThe warning indicators are now not coming solely from activists or researchers — they’re now being sounded by the town’s personal water utility.In an inner evaluation cited by The Occasions of India on June 9, the Bangalore Water Provide and Sewerage Board cautioned that Bengaluru may face an acute ingesting water scarcity as early as 2039 if present consumption patterns, groundwater depletion and delayed infrastructure upgrades proceed.
The report flags unchecked city growth, over-dependence on borewells, shrinking recharge zones and rising per capita demand as key drivers of the looming disaster.Water high quality: the hidden emergencyShortage is just a part of the story. High quality is the opposite.Many residences report foul-smelling tanker water with seen impurities. The fascinating TDS restrict for ingesting water is below 500 ppm; residents report readings of 400–800 ppm, typically crossing 1,000 ppm in fringe areas the place borewells exceed 900 toes.“Tanker water’s TDS ranges are over 500 ppm,” says Neha Advani of Hillcrest, Home of Hiranandani, the place tanker and Cauvery water are blended in the identical tank. “If builders had created separate tanks for Cauvery water and linked these to kitchens, we’d have wanted solely common filters,” she says.
Throughout Bengaluru’s newer layouts, water methods designed for mixed-source provide are compounding the issue. Even the place Cauvery water is accessible, it’s typically saved and distributed alongside borewell and tanker water, rising hardness ranges.This has pushed households towards a number of layers of purification — heavy-duty RO methods for ingesting water and softeners for bathing — leading to vital water wastage at a time when each drop counts.Medical professionals warn that the long-term well being implications of poor water high quality are being underestimated.
“If sewer strains run parallel to ingesting water strains and are previous or break at a number of factors, contamination can happen,” says Dr Parvesh Kumar Jain, Professor and Head of Medical Gastroenterology on the Institute of Gastroenterology and Organ Transplant, Bengaluru. “When sewage mixes with ingesting water, it causes bacterial and viral infections.”Whereas infections reminiscent of E. coli, hepatitis A and hepatitis E are prevalent, pinpointing contamination sources stays tough. Elevated fluoride and heavy metallic ranges pose persistent well being dangers, together with bone toxicity, kidney injury, kidney stones, hypertension and coronary heart illness.“Not like microbial contamination, excessive TDS doesn’t make water instantly infective,” Dr Jain explains. “However its long-term results could be devastating. We’d like efficient supply detection, strong surveillance methods and higher water provide infrastructure.”Shashank Palur, senior hydrologist at WELL Labs, warns of a deeper danger. Leaking sewer strains enable sewage to percolate into groundwater. “If sewer and water strains are broken, sewage can enter water provide strains when pipes are empty,” he says, arguing for system-wide sewer overhaul.Whereas shortage dominates public discourse, consultants warn that water high quality is rising as an equally harmful, if much less seen, disaster in Bengaluru’s tanker-dependent neighbourhoods.The federal government has been urged to implement complete water testing protocols and put money into superior filtration methods to mitigate the dangers related to elevated complete dissolved solids (TDS) ranges. Making certain protected ingesting water, specialists argue, should be handled as a public well being precedence, not merely a supply-side problem.
Bengaluru Water Disaster
A generally used remedy course of — charcoal and sand filtration adopted by chlorination — is efficient in eradicating pathogens and suspended particles however does little to scale back TDS. Reverse osmosis (RO) filtration considerably lowers TDS ranges, but additionally strips water of helpful minerals and results in substantial water wastage.In lots of house complexes, residents have been pressured to create non-public, parallel purification methods. Siddharth Singh of Ahad Euphoria on Sarjapur Highway, like many others, has put in water softening units in bogs to stop hair fall and pores and skin dryness — a response pushed much less by luxurious than by compulsion.Knowledge tells a bleak storyIISc scientists have quantified what residents already really feel. Over 50 years, Bengaluru’s built-up space has elevated by 1,055%, whereas water unfold space has fallen by 79% and vegetation by 88%.“The extent of water floor… has shrunk from 2,324 hectares in 1973 to only 696 hectares in 2023,” mentioned Prof TV Ramachandra. “Of the remaining water our bodies, 98% are encroached upon and 90% fed with untreated sewage or industrial effluents.”
ATREE’s research provides one other layer: half the town’s households use lower than 90 litres per capita per day, whereas the highest 10% devour 342 lpcd. Inequality is constructed into the system.Past Bengaluru: a statewide emergencyWater stress shouldn’t be confined to the capital. Protests erupted throughout Kalyana Karnataka, with farmers demanding releases from upstream reservoirs.In April this 12 months, CM Siddaramaiah wrote to Maharashtra searching for water from Warna, Koyna and Ujjani reservoirs to satisfy ingesting wants in northern districts.Even with reservoirs partially full, erratic rainfall and uneven distribution have raised fears of ingesting water shortage earlier than the monsoon returns.When residents stepped in — and had been pushed outIf Bengaluru’s lakes have survived in any respect, a lot of the credit score goes to citizen teams.Puttenahalli Puttakere Lake, as soon as a sewage-filled wasteland, is as we speak a thriving ecosystem. Butterflies migrating from the Western Ghats to the Jap Ghats used it as a stopover earlier this 12 months. Native residents now eagerly await their return earlier than the northeast monsoon.The transformation was led by the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Enchancment Belief (PNLIT), which transformed the dump yard into what it proudly calls “a individuals’s lake” — whereas additionally performing as watchdogs in opposition to encroachment.“Encroachment within the lake premises is at all times a matter of concern,” says Usha Rajagopalan, chairperson of PNLIT.
Comparable tales performed out throughout the town. Mahadevapura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti (MAPSAS) maintained a sequence of interconnected lakes — Kasavanahalli, Kaikondrahalli and Saul Kere — protecting practically 200 acres.However this citizen-led mannequin got here to an abrupt halt in 2025 after BBMP stopped renewing MoUs with lake trusts, citing a March 2020 excessive court docket order that barred MoUs with company entities for lake rejuvenation till authorized readability was obtained. BBMP prolonged the interpretation to citizen our bodies as nicely, arguing that corporates could not directly fund them.Citizen teams dispute this. “Excessive Court docket keep is being misinterpreted to incorporate citizen teams. The court docket order restraining corporates from sustaining lakes mustn’t apply to us,” a MAPSAS trustee mentioned, including that MoUs had been halted below directions from the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Improvement Authority.Preeti Gehlot, particular commissioner at BBMP, maintains the court docket order applies to all. She declined additional remark.One unnamed BBMP official alleged that some citizen our bodies revenue from lake administration. “A variety of these teams don’t have experience in lake administration. They’re taking away credit score for what we’ve got accomplished,” he mentioned.MAPSAS strongly rejects the cost. “We work professional bono. The volunteers search neither identify nor fame. The trustees take no remuneration. Our Belief data are professionally accounted and audited yearly with no room for any misuse,” the trustee mentioned.Even with out MoUs, volunteers proceed to behave as watchdogs. “BBMP officers, typically overworked and managing a number of lakes, depend on us for on-the-ground data,” he mentioned.Citizen frustration is palpable. BBMP lacks funds and manpower for day-to-day upkeep, monitoring encroachments, buffer zone violations and sewage entry. Shilpi Sahu, a resident who has adopted lake conservation for years, says, “Even when BBMP will increase its workforce 10 or 20 instances, they will be unable to match what the area people can do.”What a non-tanker future would requireEarlier this 12 months, the Karnataka Groundwater Authority admitted in court docket that it operates with simply 49 everlasting workers and 30 outsourced staff in opposition to 440 sanctioned posts — an 82% emptiness price. For all of Bengaluru, there are solely two geologists.Officers described the authority as “functionally paralysed”.As a substitute of mapping aquifers or policing unlawful borewells, enforcement is complaint-driven. “Meaning whichever neighbourhood shouts the loudest,” an official mentioned.The implications are seen in Whitefield, Mahadevapura and Devanahalli: borewells that after struck water at 300–400 toes now run dry at 1,200–1,800 toes. Tanker operators drill deeper in peri-urban villages to maintain vans transferring.“When the referee is absent, each borewell proprietor is rationally egocentric — and collectively suicidal,” one hydrologist noticed.One sensible answer lies underground.The Biome Belief has been working to recharge Bengaluru’s deserted wells by partnering with the Mannu Vaddar neighborhood — conventional nicely diggers whose abilities span generations. Since 2015, they’ve helped recharge practically 2.5 lakh wells throughout neighbourhoods reminiscent of Yediyur, IIM Bangalore, Yelahanka, Cubbon Park, Lalbagh and Rainbow Drive.A typical recharge nicely, three toes large and 20 toes deep, prices round Rs 40,000 and permits filtered rainwater to percolate into aquifers. Areas with such methods report lowered flooding and enhancing groundwater ranges.The mannequin has labored partly as a result of Bengaluru already mandates rainwater harvesting. “This gave the Mannu Vaddars livelihood safety and the town a partial answer,” the belief says — a reminder that water resilience could lie as a lot in conventional information as in trendy infrastructure.
Ready for the faucet to runAs summer time approaches, anxiousness rises. Some hope upcoming mission phases will ease stress. Others are much less sure, having seen previous assurances overtaken by progress.For now, Bengaluru continues to adapt — storing, rationing, adjusting. The town capabilities, places of work open, visitors crawls, start-ups launch. However beneath the floor, a vital query lingers: how lengthy can a contemporary metropolis depend upon tankers to maintain its faucets operating.Every profitable supply brings short-lived aid. Every empty sump brings the reminder again.However each blue-and-white tanker that pulls up at daybreak is each a aid and a warning. It alerts a metropolis residing past its hydrological means — one 4,000-litre reserving at a time.If Bengaluru doesn’t use this respiration house to revive its lakes, regulate its groundwater and repair its pipes, Sanchari Cauvery dangers turning into not a stopgap, however a everlasting crutch.(With inputs from Nithya Mandyam and Mini Thomas)
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