A whopping 8,198 residents of the city, including activists, and active members of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) among others, have registered themselves to work as Jalamitras, volunteers with the BWSSB to conserve water in the city. The initiative launched by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on March 15, is modelled on the lines of successful past initiatives like Shuchimitra, Keremitra among others.
“In just 15 days, we have got over 8,000 citizens register themselves as Jalamitras. This shows the kind of awareness of the crisis at hand and willingness to contribute to mitigating it. We are holding training sessions for these volunteers over the next two days,” said Ram Prasath Manohar V., chairman, BWSSB.
These Jalamitras will now work as force multipliers for BWSSB in conserving water on the ground, amidst a severe water crisis. In the initial phase, the Board intends to use Jalamitras to create awareness to conserve water and implement several conservation measures initiated amidst the crisis like not using potable water for non-essential purposes, installing aerators to all taps, put a stop to digging of illegal borewells among others.
“BWSSB has a staff strength of just over 2,000 employees, which is not enough in a city with a population of 1.4 crore. So in the long run, even after we tide over this crisis, Jalamitras will act as the eyes and ears of the Board on the ground. We intend to use them to alert us on leakages, water wastage, illegal water connections, and illegal borewell digging among others,” Dr. Manohar said.
