Amidst dried-up borewells and overburdened tanker services, some schools in Bengaluru are struggling to provide water during class hours to their students and staff members. However, the issue is with water in toilets and not drinking water as some of the schools have kept drums with water in their toilets instead of running tap water, D Shashi Kumar, Secretary of the Association of Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka told the Times of India. The Department of School Education and Literacy, however, said that no schools have reported water shortages so far.
This comes amid the board exam season. The Karnataka SSLC or class 10 exam is slated to be conducted from March 25 to April 6. While the second PU exams have already commenced on March 1 and will go on till March 22. Final exams are going on in other classes too.
As per experts, the burden of unplanned development and the infrastructural boom have worsened the water crisis. Two-thirds of Bengaluru’s water comes from the Cauvery River. For the remaining needs, the city depends on borewells and other sources. The river flows 1,000 feet below Bengaluru’s elevation at a distance of 120 kilometres and water is pumped to the city from Cauvery.
Gated communities and high-rise apartments are rationing water, banning car washing with drinking water, using it for fountains, etc. With dried-up borewells, getting tanker water has also become a big task for most. Even people who have paid over Rs 2 crore for an apartment in a posh gated society now have only water for limited slots per day.
“Entire Bengaluru is not facing a water crisis. Yes, the Monsoon failed completely last year and there are some serious issues. The areas which are not under the Cauvery water supply scheme are facing crisis due to drought. Our government is doing everything possible to supply water to all. No one should cause panic,” CM Siddaramaiah had said earlier.
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