Bengaluru: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has imposed fines totalling Rs 1.1 lakh on 22 citizens within three days for using potable water in the city for purposes other than drinking, violating the curb on activities like car washing amid the water supply crisis in the city.
The BWSSB issued a notice on March 10, informing the public of a fine of Rs 5,000 for each violation of potable water use, specifying activities for which potable water is banned, such as car washing, gardening, and large construction projects.
“The city is facing a water crisis, and orders were in line with that. We started enforcing the orders on restrictions only from Friday after carrying out an awareness drive. Between Friday and Sunday, we have booked 22 cases and collected spot fines from people and given them receipts like traffic police do,” BWSSB chairman V Ram Prasath Manohar told The Times of India.
While there are six major activities that the board is looking at, the focus in the first phase of enforcement has been car washing. “People are using sprays and hoses connected directly to taps and a lot of water is wasted. All cases were based on our spot inspections and complaints from local residents. We will continue with our drive,” he said.
According to BWSSB, most cases were reported from the board’s southeast division – 13 cases worth Rs 65,000 – while the remaining were spread across east, north, northeast and southwest divisions.
The city’s two major sources of water are the Cauvery river and the borewells dug by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from time to time and handed over to the BWSSB for supply. Bengaluru gets 1,450 MLD (million litres per day) of water from the Cauvery with an additional 400 MLD sourced through public borewells.
Insufficient rainfall coupled with excessive concretisation in Bengaluru has led to a notable depletion of the underground water table. Currently, 110 villages in the city, primarily in the eastern areas such as Varthur, Bellandur, Hoodi, and Marathahalli, are experiencing a significant shortfall in groundwater supply. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) approximates that the city is encountering a deficit of more than 50 percent in groundwater resources.
The Bengaluru district administration on Wednesday implemented price caps on water tanker services charged to residents for a duration of four months, following the recommendation of the technical advisory committee.
