Indian Tech Bub Bengaluru Reeling from Water CrisisThe TakeawayThe south Indian city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) — the ‘Silicon Valley of India...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
The Takeaway
The south Indian city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) — the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ — is grappling with a severe water crisis. The capital of the southern state of Karnataka, Bengaluru has been hit by an unusually hot February and March and poor rainfall, a situation that is expected to worsen as freshwater resources are depleted and heat wave-like conditions continue to ravage the city’s 13 million residents.
Bengaluru water crisis
A woman carries water pots after filling from a municipal tanker amidst the ongoing water crisis in Bengaluru on March 15, 2024. | Photo Idrees Mohammed/AFP via Getty Images
As one of the world’s fastest-growing cities, Bengaluru is home to India’s US$194-billion information technology services industry, and hosts global firms like Google and Walmart and Canadian firms like Lululemon Athletica and the Hudson’s Bay Company. With many businesses experiencing operational and supply chain challenges, the current ecological emergency also raises the alarm about the city’s future as an economic and tech hub. As Bengaluru residents voted on April 26 in India’s massive seven-phase national election, the water crisis was dominating the lives of this tech city’s electorate.
In Brief
Bengaluru’s population has tripled since 1990, as it transformed itself into a major tech hub. This growth has massively strained the city’s natural resources, with lakes drying up and forests being cleared for urbanization.
The steep decline in groundwater levels and the inability of municipal pipelines to meet burgeoning needs have led to a scarcity of running water in the city’s dwellings and prompted residents to turn to private water tanker services to purchase water for daily use. More than 1,600 tankers belonging to roughly 600 water-supply firms are supplying water across the city.
The state government has now taken control of these private water tankers to prevent prices from soaring further. But critics point out that many private tanker services have managed to defy the government’s efforts, and prices have continued to skyrocket, making this basic necessity increasingly unaffordable for many. Since March, residents reportedly have been getting water from tankers only every one or two weeks as local authorities continue to urge them to limit their water usage.
The crisis has inflamed partisan rancour and generated voter apathy in the city during India’s crucial national elections, which are currently underway (through June 1). Voters in one of the city’s posh neighbourhoods said they would boycott the national elections to protest government inaction on the city’s dwindling water supply.
Implications
Water crisis provokes partisan bickering during vital elections. A political blame game has broken out between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the central government, and the Congress Party, which heads Karnataka’s state government. While both parties have raised the water crisis in their city-level campaigns, ecological and climate concerns have not resonated as national-level issues. Meanwhile, voters in Bengaluru are emphasizing that such issues are existential, as many of them are unable to take a shower or flush their toilets.
https://www.technologyforyou.org/indian-tech-bub-bengaluru-reeling-from-water-crisis/
Media
Taxonomy
- Water Supply
- Community Supply
- Urban Water Supply