02/11/2020
Bengaluru’s water woes and rapidly-depleting groundwater reserves led to it getting an abysmal 200th rank
It is no surprise that Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru — high on the list of India’s water-stressed districts — is a cause of concern for the Union government’s Jal Shakti Abhiyaan (JSA) initiative.
The initiative addresses the water and irrigation needs of 255 water-stressed districts across the country.
Bengaluru received an abysmal 200th rank in terms of water conservation work done under JSA, with a score of a mere 11 percentage.
Despite laws in place since 2008 that mandate construction of rainwater harvesting structures in all public spaces and residence buildings — including those for the treatment and reuse of waste water — the city has been under considerable stress over depleting water sources and immense pollution in its several lakes.
Apart from city rules, Karnataka’s 2017 wastewater policy also advocates for interventions similar to those described under JSA and allocates a 20 per cent reuse target.
None of these, however, was reflected in the Bengaluru district’s scorecard that gave it a zero on all fields except for uploading details of five conservation sites.
Experts also disagree with the JSA's findings.
“In my opinion, the scorecard of the JSA does not provide much in terms of valid information. There were disagreements between the centre and state regarding the criteria and methods of assessment that seem to show in the final scorecard,” said Biswadeep Ghosh, programme director at non-profit Arghyam.
“While it is a welcome step that now all water-related commands have been consolidated under a single roof, the JSA itself was sketchy and patchy in terms of ex*****on and implementation. There were disagreements between the centre and state regarding the criteria and methods of assessment that seem to show in the final scorecard,” he added.
The implementation of laws on rainwater harvesting and treatment and reuse of waste water were criticised in the past.
The JSA scorecard, however, seemingly disregards the existence of policy measures that were put in place to improve the city’s water security.
