Vakil Garden City, an upscale gated community of 150 villas on Kanakapura Road in south Bengaluru, had four borewells to service its water needs. However, the recent rain deficiency led to three of them drying up. “We dug four more borewells 10 days ago at a cost of over ₹10 lakh. Of them, only one has yielded water. In between, we were dependent on water tanker suppliers who were fleecing us. As the rains failed, the price of a tanker went up with each passing day,” said R. Shivakumar, president of the RWA.
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Residents across the outskirts of Bengaluru, from Whitefield to Kanakapura Road to north Bengaluru, have similar stories to tell. Bengaluru Urban district recorded a 92% rain deficiency in August and a 42% shortfall in the June-August monsoon period. The result is that the drinking water crisis on the city’s outskirts — areas that are not serviced by Cauvery water supply and are dependent on borewells — has worsened.
