Cities are never planned in
advance they grew and developed with growth of the city and people migrating to
those cities for better career opportunity. Career is one of the deciding
factors which lead to the growth and expansion of cities. Rapid growth of city
lead to rapid urbanization, it can be harmful at times.
Bangalore has also grown by leaps
and bounds but the city today is reeling under water shortage. Bangalore relies
completely on water tankers for its water needs. Independent house, housing
societies, business establishment all are depended on water tankers and the
need is acute during summers when tanker guys charge exorbitant amount for supplying
water.
People are forced to pay the
price tanker guys ask them as they are in dire need for it. Despite such struggle
no concrete measure has been taken by the people to tackle the issue of water
shortage in the Bangalore. I wonder WHY? If we do something towards water
conservation today, we can tackle water scarcity issue over a period of time
but we are reluctant to do anything.
Looking at the way, how the city
is growing, the time is not far when we might run out of water in future.
Instead of taking a step then, better start with a small step today for a
better tomorrow. Rain water harvesting is one the ways but again the participation
of people to this program isn’t encouraging.
I think government should mandate
all housing societies, apartments (big or small), commercial establishment to
adopt rain water harvesting technique. These are the places where consumption
of water is highest. All of them depend on tanker for their water needs, as
their bore wells can’t meet their water needs. But with rain water harvesting
these places can reduce their dependence on water tankers.
Another effective measure is
water meter, wondering HOW? According to an article published in a leading
daily it has been found that water meter has been able to reduce the intake of
water tankers. Few housing societies and apartments installed water meter for
their residents and water bill amount was charged according to the water intake
of the residents.
From the moment water meters were
installed and residents were accountable for their water intake and pay
accordingly to the meter readings. So residents became cautious about their
water intake which wasn’t the case earlier. Earlier irrespective of water usage
resident paid fixed amount and this lead to water wastage couple of times. Now
with water meter in place, water wastage has been arrested to a great extent.
Every drop of water wasted will
now be added to your monthly water bill. Hence residents have been cautious and
have a taken all necessary measures to save every drop of water. Now no leaking
taps are left unattended rather it is fixed at the earliest. Water meters have
been a boon for people who were consuming less water were still made to pay at
par with others who were consuming more water.
Since the installation of water
meters, housing societies and apartment’s water bills on tankers have reduced.
Reason now they need fewer tankers a month. Though water meter can’t address
the water problem of the city completely but it’s a small step towards cautious
usage of water.
I feel water meter and rain water
harvesting if initiated properly can bring some respite to water woes. But
constant effort should be made towards more water conservation techniques
before we head towards a grim situation.
