Everyone is debating the Bengaluru water crisis nowadays. Did you know that the total water requirement is 2100 MLD (million litres per day) in the city of Bengaluru? Of this, 1450 MLD comes from Cauvery River. Of the remaining 650 MLD of the city’s water requirement, the majority comes from borewell water.
India, on the whole, possesses only 4% of the world’s fresh water. Over 80% of the urban domestic water supply is met solely through groundwater.
Records also show that Bengaluru had at least 262 lakes until 1961. Now due to encroachment, there are only 81, of which only 33 are identified as living.
Some 6900 borewells or 50% of the total borewell count in Bengaluru now have no water. Suffering and distress is real in many gated societies. Community tensions and frequent fights are not new anymore.
Water tankers are continuously on the Bengaluru roads, far & wide – They have become a common show now. That indicates that the condition is severe & real estate investments can suffer.
Read the below rant:
“…I didn’t go to the toilet today because there is no water in my washroom. I am paying 40k+ pm rent for a 2BHK, and I can’t get water. When water came in the morning for 30 minutes, I couldn’t take it as I was sleeping. I cannot wake up early as I work night shifts. I was planning to buy property here. But now, I will never buy it. It’s better to stay in my village than in this swanky place with no water.”
This is the outlook of Bengaluru real estate if this water crisis continues.
A recent Deccan Herald poll suggested that 87% of those polled said that the unprecedented water crisis has become a cause of concern; and they are re-evaluating their plans of property investment in the city. 61% are also considering other cities for property investment which do not suffer water woes.
Another twitter user summarised the situation clearly when he said:
[Using drinking water for gardening/car wash/fountains/construction is prohibited now, fine Rs 5000.]
Tanker providers sensed the money-making opportunity in this Bengaluru water crisis and were charging double the normal rates. So now, the government had to step in & fix tanker rates: Rs 850 for 8000 litre and Rs 1200 for 12000 litre.
That means, roughly you need to pay Rs 1 per day for a family of 4 to drink enough water in Bengaluru. For total water needs, you need to shell out close to Rs 1500 per person per month.
Most sought after prime properties in Whitefield and Sarjapur depend totally upon bore well water. They are the ones facing the loudest music now. Like the covid era, techies want to return back home. So, demands for WFH are rising.
Given travel time and work schedules in tech jobs, this seems to be the only logical solution. But guess what? Techies will have to pay the rents for those unoccupied properties while they go back and do WFH.
They can’t afford to do the house-hunt again when they are back, say 2 months from now. Can they? That reminds me of a ghost city. Tons of money wasted on world class infrastructure – sans water!
And we didn’t speak about another factor causing the Bengaluru water crisis: Cauvery water.
Well, the dispute is not new. The Cauvery River supplies 70-80 per cent of the water requirements for 14.5 million people in Bengaluru, India’s Silicon Valley.
On the other hand, Chennai, known as the Detroit of Asia with an equally big population of 12 million, also depends on it for 15-20 percent of its water requirements during peak times.
You see – Cauvery is the lifeline of the two Indian megacities that drive their economies.
One shocking fact is that: In the year 2022, more than 400 TMC of Cauvery water flowed into the sea! So, when cities and villages struggle without water – having some sort of reservoirs to use Cauvery water is absolutely a must.
As of today, the city needs about 8000 million cubic feet (TMC) from March to May while there is only 34 TMC water in reservoirs. Outside Bengaluru, out of 136 Taluks in Karnataka, 123 Taluks have been declared drought hit and 109 are severely affected.
A BWSSB official said the situation is grim because the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam in Mandya district from where Cauvery water is supplied to Bengaluru does not have enough water.
This is undoubtedly one of the worst water crisis in recent years. Poor rainfall in 2023 added to the disaster in making. The Indian Meteorology Department has attributed the scanty rains to the El Nino effect.
The ground report is that: for a new building in Bengaluru: The BBMC will not give Cauvery water connection. The only option available is bore well— and the well depth will go on increasing every year as we keep consuming groundwater at record pace.
This is the reason people are considering if this real estate investment here is even worth it.
For now, the board has assured that enough water supply to last for 5 more months can be on the cards. (By then, monsoon is expected to arrive).
But, at the core, this crisis is something environmentalists have been fearing for a long time now – The causes are obvious. And they are not going away soon.
- Encroachments
- Cauvery dispute
- Groundwater crisis
- Erratic rainfall/climate effects
But is it only about Bengaluru? Certainly not.
In the peninsular part of the country generally water level ranges between 5-20 mbgl except in pockets where water level is less than 5 mbgl. (mbgl is metres below ground level) The depth to water level of 75 to 80% of wells in the Bengaluru Urban district in Aug 2020 was less than 5 mbgl.
Thus – Bengaluru surroundings are, in fact, doing better than many other parts of the country. Take for example interior Maharashtra – women have been walking miles for water and this scene is constant through decades. Morchas for water? Common in Mumbai! Water tables are showing signs of stress all across India. It is not just a Bengaluru story for sure.
Also, as we all know: there is no one size fits all approach to real estate.
Consider JP Nagar, Jayanagar in south Bengaluru. They are still doing quite okay when it comes to water scarcity. There are several other pockets in the south where people are happily living with a stable water supply. Needless to say, Bengaluru is too big to be painted in one colour.
Overall, in the myriad things that one must check before buying a property in Bengaluru, there is now a significant additional question: What is the status of water supply?
That question can make or break the deal.
Note: The above post is for informational purposes only. Not advice.
