In Bengaluru, the IT heart of India, Basavaraj drives a water tanker and has to leave his house by 6:30 a.m. every day to fetch enough water for his customers, who now rely on him for a very fundamental requirement.
Amidst exceptionally high temperatures, residents of the 14 million-person capital city in the south of Karnataka state—often referred to as “India’s Silicon Valley”—have been suffering from water shortages.
The 22-year-old fills up his tanker at a man-made pool in the city’s north that is fed by four boreholes, and he then makes rounds of four or five buildings that house his regular clientele.
Nandish, the pool’s owner, claims he can now provide fewer tankers.
“Around 40 tankers used to come here every day earlier but now only about 15-20 come as water from the bore wells has also reduced,” he stated.
According to the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, which was formerly home to lakes and forests, has lost 79% of its bodies of water and 88% of its greenery in the last 40 years, while the amount of land covered in concrete has expanded eleven-fold.
The state government was forced to cap pricing at 1,200 rupees ($14) per unit because some people were being charged almost twice as much by water tanker sellers, who were still billing customers well into the summer. This led to a brief strike by certain water tank providers.
Daisy, sixty, resides near to a privately owned borehole that provides free water to the surrounding area and close to Basavaraj. Even when the waste water is emptied away and the water is made safe for consumption, there is currently a need for that liquid.
“We had to fight with the owner of the borewell to give us waste water,” said Daisy. “We use it to wash dishes and clothes.”
