Bengaluru’s groundwater conundrum

The plummeted groundwater level has pushed Bengaluru to the red zone. Borewell digging is rampant in parts of the city not covered by piped water supply. Is there a way out?

Bengaluru: The poor monsoons have left the residents of Bengaluru worried about the possibility of water scarcity during the summer months. A recent letter written by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd (CNNL) requesting to store at least 2.4 to 2.5 tmcft of water for Bengaluru hints that the city might be staring at a crisis.

While on the one hand, the water levels in the reservoirs are going down by the day, on the other hand, the groundwater levels have also been plunging, giving a double blow to the city. The city’s groundwater levels have decreased drastically over the last decade, leaving many borewells dry.

While the city has not felt the pinch over the last few years owing to good monsoons, this year may be different. Many residents and experts have opined that the government’s failure to control rampant borewell drilling is one of the major causes of the decline in groundwater levels. Illegal borewells have become a common sight over the last decade, pushing Bengaluru to such a situation, they argue.

Residents of Whitefield, Mahadevapura and surrounding areas have been highlighting the issue, demanding that the government wake up to the impending danger.

“In just one year, the water levels plunged by nearly 1,000 feet, and many of the borewells in Mahadevapura turned dry. That is when we realised that illegal borewells had caused a disaster, and we woke up to it very late,” explains Sandeep Anirudhan, a civic activist from Whitefield. He adds that rampant borewell drilling for commercial purposes had left the groundwater levels so low that the drinking water borewells dug up earlier have turned dry.

This has been the case in many areas, especially the city’s periphery. Though there is a ban on using groundwater for construction purposes, many construction sites continue to have borewells. For instance, Mary Bhalla, a resident of Borewell Road in Whitefield, says that as many as seven borewells were dug in a plot that is less than an acre.

“The work on the first borewell started in April 2023. Since then, they have dug up one after the other, and all of them are being used for commercial and construction purposes,” she explains. While she did try calling the police and speaking to the authorities, the work would stop temporarily and resume soon after.

Authorities pass the buck

While the agitation by the residents of these areas forced the Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju to form a special team comprising senior officers from the Karnataka Ground Water Authority (KGWA) to inspect and identify all the illegal borewells in the city, the lack of manpower has restricted the action only against new offenders even as many others evade the net.

“We visit the spot and stop the work whenever we get a complaint about illegal borewell drilling. However, given the huge number of borewells that have come up in the city, it is impossible to check each one. Hence, we rely mostly on complaints to identify such illegal borewells,” a senior official from KGWA says.

The official, who spoke to DH on conditions of anonymity, adds that the KGWA had passed on the responsibility of identifying and acting upon illegal borewells to the BWSSB. The BWSSB officials, on the other hand, say that inspecting the legality of the borewell is not under their purview.

“We are authorised to provide permissions to new borewells. Also, since we have staff on the ground, we can act immediately on any complaint. Hence, we coordinate with KGWA when there are complaints of illegal borewells. However, we do not have the manpower to go around and inspect if every borewell being dug in the city is legal. It does not come under our purview,” a senior BWSSB official says, warding off any responsibility.

However, the committee is now working on the inspection amid limitations.

Low awareness of the rule

DH spoke to a few borewell drilling companies to check if the workers and landowners knew the rule. Most companies said there was a constant flow of orders, and in the periphery, the number of borewell drilling orders increased significantly this year. However, they said many borewells were dug up for construction. “Majority of what we drill is on construction sites,” a worker said.

While a few landowners would have a permission letter, not all of them know or care about it, revealed the workers from another borewell drilling company.

“We do ask for a permission letter when we start work. However, many are unaware of it and force us to continue. Since we have seen many such cases and know that the chances of an inspection by authorities are low, we get to work,” says another staff member from a borewell drilling company. Yet another worker says many of his clients had gotten away with it using political and monetary power. 

Need for better enforcement

While there are laws and regulations, citizens say the authorities have not used them. For instance, in one of the cases where the residents of Nallurhalli Main Road complained of an illegal borewell in the locality, the BWSSB officials visited the spot. They got the machines evicted, halting the borewell drilling.

However, the work resumed within a few hours, forcing the officials to pay a second visit. This ‘stop and resume’ game happened four times until the BWSSB officials arrived at the site with police support. This, the residents say, clearly indicates a need for better enforcement.

“The officials have the power to register a police complaint and take severe action. They should make use of it in such instances. Small petty fines will not stop the offenders,” Anirudhan said.

Pointing out that it was nearly impossible to stop illegal borewells, Mary says the powers should also be vested with the police. “We need a better and stronger system. I tried to alert the officials when the first illegal borewell appeared in the plot. However, the cops said they did not have power. By the time I could get the right officials to stop the work, seven illegal borewells had already come up,” she said.

‘Lack of infra the root cause’

While Whitefield and surrounding areas have an active citizenry aware of the rules and regulations, the same continues to thrive in the peripheral areas that do not have a proper water supply.

While there has been a hue and cry over the plunging groundwater levels, the root cause is the BWSSB’s failure to provide Cauvery water supply to all the residents, according to Vishwanath S, a water conservation expert.

“Access to drinking water is a right to life. The residents are forced to dig borewells if the BWSSB does not provide Cauvery water. We cannot say it is wrong,” he says.

Activists argue that Bengaluru had exploited groundwater to the highest level, and since it was now a red zone, no new permissions should be provided. “The Central Groundwater Authority has declared Bengaluru in the red zone. Ideally, we should not allow any new borewell,” Anirudhan argues.

BWSSB officials, however, say they could not deny borewell drilling permission when applied for drinking purposes. “We do not provide permission for any borewell dug up for commercial purposes. But, when they apply for drinking water purposes, we cannot deny it. We inspect the need for it, and only if we are convinced do we provide them permission,” says Suresh B, Engineer-in-chief, BWSSB. He adds that they had to accept the requests since the BWSSB had yet to connect piped water to many areas in the city’s periphery.

Water levels in Bangalore Urban district