Bangalore tops city water charts

73% residents satisfied with quality of water supplied

Denizens of most metros and cities in the country may cry themselves hoarse over the quality of water supply; but India's software hub, Bangalore, has seen an 18-fold increase in the satisfaction levels of its residents over the last decade.

According to a survey by the Bangalore-based Public Affairs Centre (PAC), 73 per cent of the city's residents expressed satisfaction with water supply, as compared to 42 per cent in a similar survey conducted in 1999 and a mere 4 per cent in 1994.

According to MN Vidyashankar, chairman of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), not only is the per capita water availability in the city up 20 per cent from 100 litres two years ago, the city has already made plans to ensure that there is no water shortage till 2025. As part of a master plan, being financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, BWSSB will tap 500 million litres (4.55 litres equal one gallon) of water per day from the Cauvery river.

BWWSB has also initiated work on the Greater Bangalore Water Supply Project that involves laying water supply and sanitation lines to seven city municipal corporations. As part of the project, 80 million litres of water will be diverted to these municipalities per day. The BWSSB's waste treatment plant is one of the country's biggest.

Two more plants are also being planned. A project with JBIC and AusAID is also being worked out to cut distribution losses to below 15 per cent. Bangalore has also hiked water tariffs twice in 2002 by around 40 per cent.

Few cities in the country, however, are as lucky as Bangalore.

Mumbai: According to official figures, Mumbai gets just around 70 per cent of its daily water requirement of around 4,300 million litres, and that too through pipes that were laid way back in the 1860s.

Daily supply to the city has remained unchanged since 1997, when it was increased by 455 million litres in two phases. The city gets its supplies from six lakes and is unique to the extent that water from five lakes flow into the city through gravity.

With increasing demand, the municipal authorities have started two new projects to augment water supply to the city. Work has already started on a 5.5-km tunnel from the Bhandup water filtration facility to Charkop in Kandivali.

The middle Vaitarna Project, which will provide an additional 477 million litres to the city, is still awaiting the central government nod as a dam needs to be constructed on the lake. Another project, to pump 350 million litres a day from the Bhatsa lake will take one more year to complete.

Unlike Delhi, Mumbai doesn't have any shortfall in the primary supply sources.

Like most other parts of the country, water is subsidised in Mumbai, but not as hugely as in Delhi or Kolkata. As compared to BMC's cost of Rs 5.45 per thousand litres of water, the levies range from Rs 2.25 to Rs 3.50. Industrial consumers pay between Rs 18 and Rs 35 per thousand litres.

Kolkata: The city doesn't have too much of a problem in terms of supplies, but there is a shortage of filtered and purified water. Of the total supplies of around 900 million litres a day, the shortage of filtered water is around 130 million litres a day.

Loss due to leakages is estimated to be around a third in the core city areas like Park Street. The city charges almost nothing for water and typical rates could be around Rs 20-30 per month per apartment.

With inputs from R Raghavendra in Bangalore, Renni Abraham in Mumbai and Pradeep Gooptu in Kolkata