Digging borewells, solution to water scarcity

BANGALORE: Until the IT boom, areas such as Whitefield, Hudi, Hopefarm and Varthur were mere villages with ample open space. The scenario today has changed drastically. Numerous layouts and skyscrapers are sprouting like mushrooms.  The intriguing bit is that the most areas in Whitefield and surrounding localities depend upon borewell water. With the given number of apartments and buildings that have cropped up, the water requirement has also increased many fold. As a result most of the borewells have either failed or  the water levels have dipped dangerously low. The rampant digging of borewells has also reduced the water table to an alarming level in the area.A lot of the private layouts and apartments in the area function with their own borewell. These two have been exhausted. Abha Suchak a resident of one of the apartments in Brookefield said, “Of the three borewells in my layout one has dried up. Thankfully the two still have water. But how long can we depend on them?” The merciless digging of borewells by private builders is draining out whatever is left of the under-ground water.Martha, a resident of Whitefield said that she does have water problems in her layout, but the situation is not that bad. “We have not started using the water tankers, however, at times we do need to store buckets of water,” she said.Speaking of the increase in the number of buildings and the consumption of water, T Venkatraju, engineer in chief BWSSB said that it compulsory for all new constructions to  take measures for Rain Water Harvesting. “Unless and until all the new buildings have arranged for RWH we will not sanction the connection to their pipelines,” he mentioned. While for new constructions it is a must, some of the old apartments are also planning to cater to it.As far as the scarcity of water is concerned, Venkatraju mentioned that in a bid to make up for the dip in water supply, he has started sending water tankers to all the wards around Whitefield. “We send 24 tankers on a daily basis. Though the supply of drinking water is short, we are doing our best in ensuring that the basic needs are meat,” he said.According to the engineer in-chief, the Cauvery Water IV Stage that seemed to be a dream for the residents of Whitefield will turn into a reality very soon. He said, that work was in progress and all work should be complete by the first quarter of 2012.” If his word is to be believed, Whitefield’s water woes should be over by next year.The BBMP joint commissioner for Mahadevpura, Devraj has a different set of views. While he asserted that the BWSSB was mainly responsible for the implementation of the RWH, he also mentioned that he plans to dig 100 new borewells in the area. When questioned if it was a good idea to dig more borewells, he said, “This year the success rate has been very high. Of the 80 borewells that we have dug, 69 were successful. We are not digging the borewell in the same location. We are finding new spots to dig.”  Is digging new borewells a good idea when the water levels are already depleting?