Construction of new housing has encroached on many of the lakes, which have become polluted and unsuitable for drinking water. Currently some parts of Bangalore do not have regular piped water because the city's demands for water have become larger than the current system can supply.
Bangalore's current water demand is estimated at about 750 million liters per day compared to a supply of about 500 million liters per day. Now water is provided from the Cauvery River by pipelines from over 100 kilometers away.
Households that do not have piped water have installed tanks on their rooftops to store water. Homeowners purchase water from water trucks that deliver to areas in Bangalore without piped water access. Rainwater is also collected from houses as it runs off the gutters and through pipes into storage tanks, where it is filtered for use.
When new houses are built now, they are required to build a well to help recharge the groundwater supply. Houses hire well diggers to dig an open well when they are building a new house, and whenever there is a large rain event, the well collects rainwater that seeps into the ground and increases the city's groundwater supply!
Citizens are also doing their part to try and conserve water they use, as I have written about in a past blog entry!
