Even as the government pats itself on its ability to attract investments and industry into the city, a study has indicated that the future growth of the city will have to be sans water i.e. the city is set for a water famine. The concentrated growth in the city has resulted in the increase in population and consequent pressure on infrastructure, natural resources and ultimately giving rise to a plethora of serious challenges such as climate change, enhanced green-house gases emissions, lack of appropriate infrastructure, traffic congestion, and lack of basic amenities.
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have fired a salvo yet again. The message to the state is clear: Preserve the existing water bodies, and act immediately, or the city could die. Perhaps on the lines of the Harappan civilisation. At the ‘Lake 2010’, a symposium on ‘Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change’ here saw the critical issue being discussed. T V Ramachandra, senior scientist, Energy and Wetland Research Centre (EWRC), Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, have asserted that Bangalore’s water bodies were poorly maintained and if the trend continued, the water crisis would be severe.
He rued that the common man was hardly aware of the severity of the problem. Water from Cauvery will not be enough to quench the city’s thirst. “The literacy level about ecological conservation among Bangaloreans is just 3.5 per cent. We need literacy programmes to protect the water bodies. The ground water is over-exploited. We need to create more water bodies to raise the water table,” he said.
Given the over-exploitation of the graund water resources, in a few more years, cautions Ramachandra, “there will neither be any ground water nor Cauvery water.” Parts of Bangalore are already reeling from an acute water shortage. One interesting geography that they mention is the area in and around the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). The reasons are clear: A real estate boom in the vicinity.
The study indicated where the unbridled and unplanned growth is taking the city. The study found that the urban areas had increased by 632 per cent between 1973 and 2007. Due to this, the city’s temperatures have shot up at least two degrees Celsius. Only in spots with adequate green cover, such as the IISc and water bodies, was the temperature relatively cooler. Creating more wetlands, the study revealed, was the right solution.
The IISc had shown a way to raise the water table through plantations and creating a water body in the campus. “If you dig 5-10 feet beneath the forest in IISc, you will get water now,” informed an IISc scientist. Besides unplanned urbanisation and rapid encroachment of existing water bodies, the problem also had other sources. Said a scientist: “Most of our water bodies are threatened by the BBMP contractors. It happens through encroachment or solid waste disposal.”
The study showed a 76 per cent decline in the vegetation cover and 79 per cent decline in water bodies, necessitating appropriate strategies for the sustainable management.
