While making projections of the drinking water requirement for year 2011, the tribunal did its calculations on the basis of the 1991 Census. Ironically, all that development Bangalore underwent in the last decade %u2013 the City has grown into a silicon hub, attracting migrant work force from across the country and lately abroad %u2013 were in vain after all.
The State government had made an appeal to allocate 30 tmc ft of water for Bangalore City. The final order, however, said: %u201CWe are considering the existing requirements as indicated in 1990, i.e. 14.52 tmc%u2026,%u201D
The tribunal found that the drinking water requirement of one-third of Bangalore is less than 0.87 tmc ft. The final order does not quantify one-third Bangalore%u2019s share, though. And, 1.75 tmc ft of water is actually allocated for drinking water for one-third of Bangalore, other cities (including Mysore) and towns and rural areas in the entire Cauvery basin area of the state.
What it actually means is the people living in one-third of Bangalore are only entitled to 15 litres of Cauvery water per day per person!
Ground water
How did the tribunal arrive at the figure? The calculation is like this: the total %u201Cconsumptive%u201D water requirement of one-third of Bangalore and other cities, towns and rural areas is 17.22 tmc ft. Fifty per cent of this requirement will be met from ground water.
The other fifty per cent, i.e. 8.75 tmc ft, has to be met from the river supplies. These figures are arrived at on the basis that 25 per cent of urban population is allowed 135 litres per capita per day (lpcd) while the remaining 75 per cent is allowed 100 lpcd.
In the case of one-third of Bangalore, the tribunal has, however, allowed 150 lpcd. For rural areas of the basin the allocation is 70 lpcd. The total requirement in the three urban categories works out to 8.70 tmc ft and the rural category 8.52. The combined requirement is 17.22 tmc ft, of which 50 per cent (8.75) is to be met from ground water sources.
