[am1m]

Originally Posted by sunilch

But Water - for some that is free for life, for some that is part of the regular expense and for some, they pay more than what they should for it.

Absolutely. I end up paying far less for each liter supplied by BWSSB than the poor folk in the same neighborhood who buy it per bucket from water tankers. The several hundreds of flats that are serviced by fleets of water tankers everyday pay more than BWSSB rates, but still pretty low per liter costs.

And yes it's true there is a lot of pilferage and pretty sure several localities in Bangalore have illegal connections.

But the point remains, there has to be some way to stop wastage and encourage harvesting. Not even a dozen houses in my rather extensive neighborhood have RWH installed.

[AltoLXI]

Reading this from the past two days in newspapers. IT companies are asking people to work from home in the face of water crisis in Chennai.

Link

When contacted, industry sources told PTI that quite a few top companies along Old Mahabalipuram Road, also known as the IT Corridor, and the Siruseri IT Park have "orally" asked employees to work from home.

"While some teams which are required for taking up day to day operations have been asked to come to office", many others, including software professionals, have been assigned 'work from home duty', an employee of an IT major located in suburban Sholinganallur said.

...and hotels are switching to water saving measures.

As a water-saving measure, such small and medium-sized hotels have been asked to use plantain leaves instead of plates

Too much population, depleting resources and an ostrich approach by the people in power and citizens alike - a deadly combination for the ominous future.

[srishiva]

Also today there was a report that bringing water from Linganamakki was foolish. As rightly pointed out in the report was that it was all for graft. Bigger the projects, bigger the loss of public money. I have to give it to them for dreaming big. They also want to build a reservoir into the sea to collect the last water that goes wasted to sea

I think some technically inclined people should start in politics or should be made part of govt. We have had a specific segment of people well versed in arguing for anything bring us to this day. There are lot of districts where agriculture has come to stop without water. These areas are closer to the western side of the state and nothing is done to bring them water. We need to stop people migrating to cities and leading an appalling life.

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I think some technically inclined people should start in politics or should be made part of govt. We have had a specific segment of people well versed in arguing for anything bring us to this day. There are lot of districts where agriculture has come to stop without water.

We will never find a solution till the herd mentality of Corporates change, why are you taking a city like Chennai or Bangalore to destruction for your greed? I can understand how difficult it will be for Chennai (close to my heart) to handle the non-stop population, it has more population than Bangalore. The root cause is destruction of forests and illegal sand mafia, who are influencing this change?
We ourselves, see what we have done to a city like Mysore today. How much money should we spend on Bangalore infrastructure? The population is increasing every year, can any one of use dare to support to make Bangalore a non-construction zone for next 5 years? I travel extensively to the rural areas around CR Nagar, Mysore and Tumkur, feel sorry for their living conditions.

[AltoLXI]

A frightening time-lapse video shows how Chennai's water reservoirs dried up.

Link

Reference to the article

Chennai lost three billion cubic feet of water in less than a year, Kahn wrote.

Climate change has an influence on heat waves, raising the risks of more evaporation and baking in drought by sucking moisture out of the soil. Background warming has also raised Chennai’s temperatures about 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past 60 years meaning even without heat waves, climate change is altering the hydrological cycle.

Reservoirs have turned into muddy splats on the landscape and the city is relying on mix of desalination plants and water being brought in by train and truck to quell unrest. The drought is indicative of morass of issues increasingly stressing water supplies not just in Chennai but around the world: poor management, overusing groundwater, and a shifting climate turning the hydrological cycle on its head. And if the world’s water insecure cities don’t act, they could be the next Chennai.

[Sebring]

Bangalore is helping out in a big way. 10,000 tankers are supplying to areas with low water there. This crisis will tide out in a few months for sure.

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

A frightening time-lapse video

[AltoLXI]

Climate change, and its related phenomena like untimely cyclones, hotter summers, erratic monsoons like the one being witnessed this year are already the signs of the things to come.

Karnataka wants to ban new apartment constructions as there is no water to be supplied. While this is debatable and blame game goes on, it is evident from the Chennai crisis that unbridled construction activity without care for the water bodies is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Adding to that is the reckless use of water by human beings.

Link

Skymet CEO in an interview to The Hindu says,

In the past five to six years, there has been a rainfall deficit. We are seeing October rains, which is unusual. That means (weather) patterns are changing, as are cropping patterns. This year, the State government had to tell farmers to stall sowing.

Unfortunately technological advances are not enough to predict the climate change. The effects are playing out slowly and steadily.

The initial build-up was not happening because of the El Nino effect. We had forecast a week’s delay. The monsoon should have arrived around June 15 but because of Cyclone Vayu, it was delayed further. Vayu took all the moisture away from the West coast. But it is not unusual to have a cyclone, one does occur in a season. The delay could also be due to climate change.

Humans can take misplaced pride in technological advances to solve the problems in hand and the ones that can crop up in future but Nature will have its own way.

[srishiva]

We rely too much on the monsoon to be happening every year without fail with small variations. We cant manage one bad monsoon and its a pity. I read that 450 tmcft of Kaveri water went to sea last year. Just in 1 month (July-Aug), 100 tmcft was wasted (source:The Hindu)

We need to store/manage water so that we can live through droughts. There are no new dams being constructed and states not allowing others to construct.(atleast fill up the existing lakes/tanks with fresh river water) Guess we are seeing the results of pulling each other's legs. Doesnt surprise because we are quite ready to make some jugaad to get water through tanker for middle class like people. And poor are willing to walk miles without complaining.

[srishiva]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48797399

Good information. One pertinent point is how technology to bring water from remote areas has forced us to use up tanks/lakes to construct buildings. There is a false assumption that more buildings will bring economic prosperity (does make lot of people millionaires). Given that we are also poor in planning infrastructure for roads, sewage etc, we need to bring new laws/rules that can bring down the building density.

[KMT]

I live in Coorg and the government is succumbing to pressure from vested interests to build huge resorts, build multilane highways, introduce railways etc to encourage tourisim. In the near future there will be nothing left for tourists to see.

This is a rain water catchment/agricultural area, it should be preserved as such.

Thousands of trees are being cut in the name of 'development' and we are seeing dramatic changes in rainfall patterns and daily max temperatures.

If you see the trickle of Kaveri water you will be shocked as it is meant to be monsoon now and it should be in spate, but the monsoon has failed so far.

I joke with my friends in Bangalore that they are better off drinking tanker/borewell water as there is so much disgusting waste put into Kaveri from resort sewage and squatter settlements in Coorg itself. I hear much more exciting stuff goes in by the time the poor river reaches Mandya.

Although last year saw so many landslides, public memory is short and earthmovers are once again busy digging into hillsides to construct mega buildings.

We cant breathe and drink money and at the rate things are detriorating in Coorg, people depending on Kaveri water in cities like Bangalore are in for hard times.

[am1m]

Have guests staying at home and believe me, the biggest worry I have is the water!

Usually, it's just the 2 of us at home and we can manage with the precious little BWSSB water we get. We are very careful with water. Haven't used the showers at home for years, we always use buckets to have a bath. We do have a small rainwater harvesting setup at home, and that takes care of all the water needs for the garden and outside. But even with that, I don't think we would be able to manage if we were more than just the two of us at home for a long period of time. When guests arrive we realize this even more. All the other homes in our neighborhood manage with bore-wells (the ground water in our area is very, very hard) or by buying water tankers to supplement the BWSSB supply. Yet, several homes have built additional floors and are giving them out on rent! And none of the other homes on our street have bothered with RWH.

I don't know how long this can go on for. I don't think the news stories about water running out are alarmist. I think it's a matter of when, not if. Wondering if I should just sell the house in the next 5 years, while there is still inflated value for plots in Bangalore. Once the water runs out, I think everything will start to fall. Let some shady builder put up 3-4 floors on this small plot and make money. We'll just rent and move from place to place as long as Bangalore still has jobs and good salaries, and then leave for the coast. I've really given up believing that enough people in Bangalore will change out basic behavior in time and things will improve. Be it the water situation, the driving in traffic, or just the population.

Or maybe once the water starts running out enough people will just leave the city and things will normalize? Can't say.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by am1m

And none of the other homes on our street have bothered with RWH.

In fact many are willing to pay the penalty rather than go for RWH. It is easier to convince illiterate people but not the literate bunch.

Originally Posted by am1m

I don't know how long this can go on for. I don't think the news stories about water running out are alarmist. I think it's a matter of when, not if.

Yes not alarmist. European countries are already taking proactive steps to mitigate the effects of climate change. On the contrary, more populous countries like China and India are attracting more manufacturing / service industries which will be drain on the precious resources as well as creating congestion in urban areas.

Originally Posted by am1m

and then leave for the coast.

Not easy to move to the coast as well. This year Mangaluru, Udupi and surrounding areas had to ration the water. With plans to tap Sharavati, Nethravati and other rivers, it is time that the districts where these rivers flow will be affected as well.

Link

Climate change will also ensure the coastal areas get submerged.

Link

Originally Posted by am1m

We'll just rent and move from place to place as long as Bangalore still has jobs and good salaries,

Originally Posted by am1m

Or maybe once the water starts running out enough people will just leave the city and things will normalize? Can't say.

The sad thing is instead of decongesting the cities, governments are still trying to attract "investments", resulting in imbalanced economies within the states. Adding to this, they want to mitigate the problems by diverting the resources from other places.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I read that 450 tmcft of Kaveri water went to sea last year. Just in 1 month (July-Aug), 100 tmcft was wasted (source:The Hindu)

We need to store/manage water so that we can live through droughts. There are no new dams being constructed and states not allowing others to construct.(atleast fill up the existing lakes/tanks with fresh river water)

Today Mumbai drained out 14000 million litres of water into sea - that is 0.5 Tmcft of water.

The irony is, 1000 kms south, Chennai is parched whereas Mumbai drains water into the sea. It is rather odd that people are curious to know if there is water available on Moon, Mars or other planets and send rovers for water detection but cannot fathom (pun unintentional) how to store the excess water and distribute it where it is needed on Earth.

Amazed by the way Israel manages its water resources.

[deehunk]

The BBC has suggested some actions to conservation of water, it looks good on paper. This would have worked out if we were in late 80's or early 90's. During last 20 years we have advanced to a more precarius position. The proposal to ban construction of apartments is a welcome move but what are the guidelines to ensure the implementation. A blanket ban will not benefit anyone, put restrictions or ban conversion of agricultural and industrial lands for residential purpose.

[thehighwayman]

This crisis is partly due to overpopulation but mainly due to lack of civic planning thanks to the largely corrupt and incompetent politicians and civic officials. Its about time they are made answerable and held accountable for such crisis.