WATERED DOWN

As Bengaluru segues from a parched summer to torrential rains, citizen groups and authorities evaluate the city's future as India's IT capital

- RANJITA GANESAN

In April, Nithin Kamath of Zerodha posted a series of tweets drawing attention to Bengaluru's escalating water crisis. He mentioned a possible solution: Turning wastewater into drinkable water, which the city-based Boson White Water (BWW) is already doing.

The next day, phones at BWW erupted with calls. Apartment complexes, standalone homes, industries -everyone wanted to know more. Though BWW puts partially treated water through an 11-stage system until it comes out highly safe, founder Vikas Brahamavar understands there are miles to go before anyone is willing to drink what was once sewage.

"Some years ago, we were supposed to supply our water in an apartment building at 10 am. Very quickly, WhatsApp groups were filled with residents saying they were itching and coughing, but the funny thing is, our water had been delayed that morning and we didn't actually start supplying until a week later," says Brahmavar, who moved back from the United Kingdom 15 years ago to start up in India's IT capital.

He remains hopeful: If industries start using high-quality treated water, the psychological barrier could change for people too. "Because water is so basic, perception is difficult to handle. Any problem people experience will be attributed to it," says Brahmavar.

By all accounts, Bengaluru's water system needs inventive upgrades. The city's population has tripled since 1990, and it is estimated to require as much as 2,632 MLD (million litres per day) of freshwater-half of this comes from the Kaveri and the rest from groundwater. But even as its outskirts are expanding with residential developments, they rely too heavily on groundwater and remain exposed to infrastructure gaps. This became particularly apparent this year, amid heat wave conditions and delayed rains.