Water Tankers: A mirage in the city of lakes
-Pranav Vasisht (MPG19044)
Problem Statement: The problem that I would be looking into is the recent phenomenon of
water tankers, especially in Bangalore and the myriad of consequences that arise from it. This
compels us to look into why there are water tankers in the first place, what are they doing and
what has to be done. We will understand the intensity of the problem both from the available
evidence and the existing ground realities to draw logical conclusions in order to realize the
urgency that it demands.
Problem Description: It would be surprising if one is unaware of the emergence of the number
of water tankers on the streets of Bangalore over the past few years. Their presence is much
more common in the relatively ‘newer’ parts of the city like Electronic city or Whitefield mainly
because concentrated economic development led to rapid urbanization,making needs out of
proportion to nature’s capacity. In such situations people cope up with quick fixes which have
long term consequences and one such seemingly possible solution to water shortage is water
tankers.
The above graph shows an estimation of a supply-demand gap for water measured in million
litres per day (MLD) which is from the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board)
website.Clearly, BWSSB itself admits that it won’t be able to catch up with the rising
demand.Today this gap is being filled by water tankers. Most of the newly urbanized areas are
not at all connected to BWSSB where these tankers are the only source.
Problem Context: We are witnessing BWSSB’s prediction coming true with the city’s increasing
dependence on water tankers.So why is it a problem? If there is really a water shortage, where
are these tankers getting water from? BWSSB is mainly responsible for supplying Cauvery
water. Water tankers largely depend on groundwater. They dig up a borewell sometimes even
upto 1000ft to cull out water. So indirectly we are depending on groundwater. Data from the
Central Ground Water Board(CGWB) suggests that the groundwater level in all parts of
Bangalore is “over-exploited”. Unsurprising, because you need ground for the water to seep in
and not roads.That is the reason these water tankers usually dig borewells near lakes and the
outskirts of the city. The dismal state of how most of Bangalore’s lakes have been encroached
is well known. Now if we connect the dots we can observe that, one, the demand for water is
increasing because of rapid urbanization.Two, water tankers are in place to cope up with this
demand who in turn depend on groundwater. Three, this is causing groundwater depletion and
lesser land cover, reducing the supply of water and further increasing demand. What we end up
is in this continuous vicious cycle.Not only that, with increasing water tankers you have more
traffic and pollution which affects the climate and further depletes groundwater, ironically making
them indirectly contributing to reduction in water supply.
Solutions: It would be outright stupidity to ban these tankers because as of now they are the
only source of water to numerous households.Probably that is why the government is also not at
all strict with the regulations of these tankers because the city would go dry if it disincentivises
them in any which way.Today, there is price discrimination for a public good like water.This
would slowly increase the price of water to an extent where the opportunity of wasting water
increases tremendously. Only then people will be willing to change and by then it would be too
late.Therefore,I propose not a solution but a serious acknowledgement of the existing problem,
to realise that water tankers are a sign that there is no water, it is infact a mirage fooling us that
everything is alright.Government must fix the number of tankers that a building can use,there
should be a cap on water usage, an attempt to showcase the future consequences of our
negligence. Through this, the state at least admits that there is a serious problem and only then
people will realize it. Communities will start thinking about ways of reducing water usage, the
problem will flow into each and every household affecting each and every person.This is the first
and the most difficult step from which solutions will eventually emerge-society’s pressure,
government’s attention and bureaucracy’s policy.
