Armed with research findings, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) scientists fired the warning salvo yet again on Wednesday. The message to the State was clear: Preserve the existing water bodies, take immediate remedial measures or perish.
“Lake 2010,” a symposium on “Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change” here was just the apt venue to raise the critical water issue. Dr T V Ramachandra, Senior Scientist, Energy and Wetland Research Centre (EWRC), Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), IISc, categorically asserted that Bangalore’s water bodies were poorly maintained and if the trend continued, the water crisis would be severe.
The common man, he said, was hardly aware of the severity of the problem. Water from river Cauvery will just not be enough to quench the thirst of a burgeoning Bangalore.
“The literacy level about ecological conservation among Bangaloreans is just 3.5 per cent. We need more literacy programmes to ensure protection of water bodies. The ground water is over-exploited. We need to create more water bodies so that the water table comes up,” he said.
Drastic dip
Parts of Bangalore are already reeling under an acute water shortage. For instance, the ground water level has seen a drastic dip in and around the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). The reasons are clear: A real estate boom in the vicinity. A few more years, and “there will neither be ground water nor Cauvery water,” cautioned Dr Ramachandra.
An IISc study had clearly indicated where the City’s unbridled, unplanned growth was heading.
The study found that the built-up area had increased by a whopping 466 percent between 1973 and 2007. Due to this, the City’s temperature shot up by at least two degrees. Only in spots with adequate green cover, such as IISc and water bodies, was the temperature relatively cooler. Creating more wetlands, the study revealed, was the right solution.
The IISc had shown a way to raise the water table through plantations and creating a water body in the campus. “If you dig 5-10 feet beneath the forest in IISc, you will get water now,” informed an IISc scientist.
Besides unplanned urbanisation and rapid encroachment of existing water bodies, the problem also had other sources. Said a scientist: “Most of our water bodies are threatened by the BBMP contractors. It happens through encroachment or solid waste disposal.”
The encroachments eventually led to increase in built up area, and in turn raised the City’s temperature.
Relic forests
Dr M D Subhash Chandra, a speaker at the symposium, emphasised the need to conserve primeval forests in Uttara Kannada districts. These forests being major water sources, merits protection. “The entire peninsula including Bangalore will be in dire straits, if these Gondwana relics are threatened,” he warned.