Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said Bengaluru is facing a shortage of about 500 million litres of water per day (MLD) against the requirement of 2,600 MLDs and officials have been directed to meet daily and draw up an action plan to tackle the water scarcity.

According to the CM, 1,470 MLD water comes from the Cauvery river and 650 MLD is sourced from borewells. There are 14,000 borewells in Bengaluru, of which 6,900 have dried. Water bodies have been encroached or died.

Bengaluru needs 2,600 MLD of water. Out of this 1,470 MLD comes from Cauvery river and 650 MLD from borewells. We have a shortage of about 500 MLD, the Chief Minister told reporters after a meeting with the officials of the civic agencies and irrigation department.

Siddaramaiah has pinned hope on the Cauvery Five project, which will commence in June to address most of the water woes of the city. The Cauvery Five project will be able to cater to 110 villages, which were added to the Metropolitan Bengaluru Municipal Corporation in 2006-07, he noted.

In an attempt to allay fears of the water crisis, he said, We have enough storage of drinking water in Cauvery and Kabini, which is sufficient to last till June.

There is 11.04 TMC water storage in KRS, and 9.02 TMC in Kabini. The government will drill bore wells at 313 places and 1,200 inactive bore wells will be revived, he added.

Instructions have been given to officials concerned to use all private tankers, including the ones from Karnataka Milk Federation in slums, upland areas, 110 villages and bore well-dependent areas. Directives were also given to increase the number of task forces to respond to complaints immediately and not to use drinking water in parks.

The CM said steps will be taken to fill up dried lakes in Bengaluru with treated water as has been done in KC valley. There is no shortage of funds to provide drinking water, he added. Besides directing officials to meet every day and prepare an action plan once a week, the Chief Minister said an expert committee will be constituted to ensure that there is no shortage of water in future. 

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