DYNAMICS OF BUFFER ZONE DILUTION ON THIPPAGONDANAHALLI RESERVOIR

 

Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board was formed on 10-09-1964 for Water Supply & Sewage disposal. It has jurisdiction of entire Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalike Area of 709 Sq.km, (Bengaluru Core area of 245 Sq.km, 8 Urban Local Bodies of 330 Sq.km (7 City Municipal Corporation and 1 Town Municipal Corporation and 110 Villages of 225 Sq.km). The real challenge is to provide Water Supply for not just the BBMP area (now Greater Bengaluru Governance Authority -GBGA), but also to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) area of 1219 Sq. Kms (additional 419 Sq.km beyond BBMP area) the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority(BMRDA) area, that has its jurisdiction of 8005 Sq.km.

 Since its inception in the year 1964, BWSSB has executed several water supply and sewage schemes for the city, including the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) Stages - I, II, III & Stage IV (Phase - I, Phase - II) against the Gravity and pumped 1500 feet to reach Bangalore to provide 1440 MLD (18.7 TMC/ Year). Recently, the Stage V (Phase I & II) was commissioned to add 775 MLD (10 TMC/ Year) of water to Bengaluru Water Supply System. Overall, 2215 MLD (29 TMC/ Year) of water is presently supplied by BWSSB to Bangaloreans- In the meantime, Stage VI is also spoken about, and that is a wrong idea, given the fact that Cauvery water supply is not so perennial due to climatic changes and drought and the Cauvery water need to be supplied to the farmers within Karnataka and to the Tamilnadu, Pondicherry and Kerala. The average Per Capita Consumption is 108 Litre Per Capita per day in Bangalore.

Overall, just for the area within BDA limit, Bangalore needs 2250 MLD (30 TMC / year) of water as on today, whereas it needs 4500 MLD (58 TMC/ year) of water within the BMRDA limit, whereas Banga lore gets just 2215 MLD of water from Cauvery River. The drinking water requirement for Bangalore by 2031 shall need approximately 4500 MLD (58 TMC/ year) and 9000 MLD (116 TMC/ year) of water due to rapid urbanization, and this calls for conserving the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir Catchment area, which is in the vicinity of Bengaluru. Though the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir and Hesaraghatta reservoir was built to store 149 MLD and 36 MLD of water, but they have dried up due to massive landuse change that includes floriculture and due to sprawl of around 3000 Acres of Unauthorised developments other development projects.

 Though the Supreme court has banned developments in Thippagondanahalli Reservoir Catchment area that has almost 138 tanks in its upstream. National Green Tribunal (NGT) & Supreme Court have consistently emphasized the need to protect the TG Halli catchment area, recognizing its role in water security and ecological balance. However the State Government (Urban Development Ministry) and BMRDA appears to be pushing for a drastic reduction in the buffer zone—from 2 km to 30 meters—to facilitate housing and other development activities, without understand the fact that shrinking the buffer zone could lead to increased contamination, encroachment, loss of biodiversity, urban flooding and reduced water recharge in the catchment areaand the 2 km buffer was established based on ecological and hydrological reasoning—not arbitrary comparison. The State Government comparing TG Hallo with Ganga or Cauvery rivers (which has 30-meter buffer zones) ignores the local ecological context and land-use patterns in their respective hinterland.

 The Ganga and Cauvery comparisons is flawed as it is being used selectively to justify short term economic gain and unauthorised developments that has cropped in, rather than following comprehensive environmental assessments. The site visit to Thippagondanahalli Reservoir catchment area reveals that none of the above restrictions are followed or regulated. There is no regulation governing groundwater extraction, nor is there any monitoring to prevent over-exploitation. I was told that there is not enough staff to initiate projects for Ground Water Level Management and are busy in giving No Objection Certificate (NOC) to extraction of groundwater for commercial, Industrial and Entertainment use in notified area. Unauthorised quarrying and construction are widespread in the area. Solid waste is being disposed of illegally, and untreated effluents from unauthorised colonies and industries continue to flow into the catchment area. Only a few stakeholders have implemented water harvesting structures. Furthermore, there is no control over the use of pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural practices. Overall, the regulations promulgated to conserve the TG Halli reservoir are not being implemented or adhered to. INTERVENTIONS AND SOLUTIONS FOR BENGALURU’s WATER NEED 1. Development leads to concretization.

There are around 7000 wards within BMRDA limits encompassing of many urban villages. All the internal roads are concretised. Concretization reduces percolation and increases the runoff coefficient, resulting in inflow of water into reservoir and increase in floods. Large scale developments and ware houses that has cropped up along the major corridors adds to the existing woes. It is time to review the TOD policy and the Zoning regulations within the catchment area. 2. The Master Plan- 2015 of Bangalore that was prepared in year 2007 re-designated its Green Belt (Olive Green) into Agriculture Zone (Pale Green), only to facilitated land alienation of the Bengaluru’s. In the process, the erstwhile Green Belt of 830 Sq. km (65% of the Master plan area) has been reduced to almost Zero Acres in the span of four decades. Also, in the past four decades, the corresponding conurbation (urbanized) limit has been expanded by 5 times from 220 Sq. Kms to 906 Sq. Kms. Infact, the relevant  Section 95 (3B) in Karnataka Land Revenue Act, that strictly reserved the Green Belt as No-Development Area, was repealed/ omitted in 2005. On one hand the Government talks about creating new Satellite towns, but on the other hand they nullify the Garden city of Bengaluru by erasing its Green Belt on ground. It is time for the Government to invest and create mini forests around the natural drains and adjacent to arkavathi/ kumudavathi rivers banks. 3. Hydro-geo-morphological map of Bengaluru depicts that, there is very less ground water resource in Bangalore East and Bangalore North region and plenty of ground water resource is available in Bangalore West and Bangalore South region. However, the earlier Bengaluru city master plans and BMRDA Perspective plans never bothered about this fact, and went on to encourage seamless development in Bengaluru East and Bengaluru North, and today, most of the Borewells have dried up in this region

. 4. Bengaluru is treating only 1440 MLD of sewage. It is re-using only 31.94 % of its treated waste water. Singapore and Cambodia is reusing 100% of its treated waste water even for drinking water purpose. The city Sewage should be treated for Tertiary level for reuse.

5. On an average Bengaluru rain for 65 days and due to recent cyclones and climatic changes sometime, it rains for 75 days.

 The rain water need to be collected and harvested. Water Harvesting structures is prescribed as a Mandate for all the private buildings. But, 30% of the city is Unauthorized and more so in TG Halli catchment area. Water harvesting structures need to be made mandatory to be constructed at the end of each prominent roads (because, the runoff coefficient is very high due to concrete roads and water does not percolate), tail end of valleys, Public Building, Big institutions, Company campus, Education campus, etc., 6. Carryout “Water Resource Audit” and “Generic state water resource information system (GWRIS)” at every ward considering all the existing and depleted water resources and rationalize the water distribution & usage. Every borewell should have a meter to indicate the level of water extraction, Ground water level, discharge parameters, etc., 7. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) prescribes that layouts beyond the extent of 10 Acres and sewage generation greater than 100 KLD need to install Waste Water Treatment plant.

However, the developers are structuring the development extent to avoid this. Thus, KSPCB should ensure that irrespective of developers within 10 Acres of land and/ or developments that generates more than 100 KLD (irrespective of the extent of development) should contribute to develop a decentralized tertiary treatment plant. 8. Unauthorised colonies result in loss of parks & open spaces- that is essential for water percolation and to improve micro-climate. It is found that around approximately around 8000 Acres of unauthorized developments have cropped up in Greater Bengaluru, and more in TG Halli catchment area. Due to this, Bangalore has lost almost 800 Acres of parks and 400 Acres of roads in Bengaluru. Heavy penalties should be initiated to recoup the real loss of parks and road space- apart from betterment levy and other taxes. The ULB’s need to coordinate with the Sub-registrars to assess the exact extent of unauthorized colonies. The loss should be made up in adjoining areas. Development leads to concretization and that results in low ground water percolation and Urban floods. pIt is prudent to ban Concrete roads in the TG Halli reservoir area. Rejuvenating Thippagondanahalli is crucial for Bengaluru’s sustainable growth. Given its proximity to the city and the rising costs associated with dependency on Cauvery River water, it is both economically and environmentally prudent to invest more funds in restoring the Thippagondanahalli reservoir. Strengthening this local water source can reduce the pressure on distant and expensive projects like Cauvery Stage VI, making Bengaluru’s water supply more resilient and self-reliant

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Courtesy: BV ANAND  and  Spade A Spade-June 2025