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 Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board

 

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board is constituted under “The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1964” [1]. The board came into existence on 2^nd October 1964 (as per BWSSB website). By the end of 1964, both the water supply and sanitary component was transferred to the newly constituted board.

 

Originally, the head works and rising main of the water supply for Bangalore were under the control of the state government, while the distribution of water was managed by the Bangalore Municipal Corporation. The World Bank, which financed the first Cauvery Water Scheme required that both the water supply as well as drainage of water in Bangalore be entrusted to a separate independent and autonomous body [1].

 

Some proviions of the act are described in more detail below.  

According to the act, the board was to be constituted with not less than three and not more than seven members. Of these, one member was to have wide experience in commercial matters and administration, while another member is to be a civil engineering expert preferably with specialization in public health, water supply and sewage disposal while the third member is to have expertise in financial aspects and accounting in the context of public undertakings.

 

Consultative Committee:  The act envisages a consultative committee constituted by the state government consisting of the three members of the board (BWSSB) and three to nine other members to represent the interests of the erstwhile Bangalore Municipal Corporation, the Bangalore City Improvement Trust Board and the Consumers of Water. The functions of the consultative committee were to meet at least once every three months to advice the board on major policy matters and schemes and to review the progress and work of the board from time to time.  Another major function of the consultative committee is to review the annual financial statement of the board before the report is submitted to the government and tabled in the legislature.

 

General Duties of the Board (section 15): The main function of the board is to supply and improve general supply of water in the Bangalore Metropolitan area and to make adequate provision for sewerage and for the disposal of sewerage in the same area. The board is also charted with (a) Ascertaining that the water supply is sufficient and wholesome (b)preparing and carrying out schemes for wholesome water supply and (c)preparing and carrying out schemes for proper sewerage and disposal thereof.

 

Financials:  The board is tasked with getting sufficient revenue to cover operations.  Any excess amount is to be used towards an improvement reserve (meant to fund improvements) or depreciation reserve.  The board is expected to present an annual financial statement for the forthcoming year in the February of every year. This statement is tabled and discussed in the legislature, but there is no vote.  At any time during the year, the board is also authorized to submit a supplementary statement for discussion. Similarly, annual statements of accounts are to be audited and tabled in the legislature.  The government will prescribe corrective action, as necessary, if required, based on the audits.

 

Water Supply: The water supply portion of the act deals with various legal rights of the board and the citizens (including time given to respond to applications). Some interesting provisions are as follows.  Article 52 – specifies for a separation of six meters between the water pipe and any source of pollution such as drain, open channel, cesspool etc.

 

Sewerage:  On sewerage, section 65 restricts hazardous materials from being introduced into the sewerage stream that makes the sewerage hazardous and makes treatment of sewerage difficult and also introduction of garbage is also prohibited. Section 66 once more reinforces the fact that “trade effluents”cannot be discharged into sewrs ecept in accordance with the laws made in this regard. Section 72 requires that sewage and rain water be effectively drained separately while section 74 states that provision has to be made to treat the sewage and that sewage may not be discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment as required by the by-laws made in this regard (not sure where these are documented).

 

Rules and Regulations: The law provides in section 87 and 88 respectively, for the state government to make rules in order to add detail to the general provisions of the act while the board can make regulations that are consistent with the act and the rules.

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Selected Information from the BWSSB website below. This information needs to be collated from other sources and edited further

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BWSSB’s mission

The mission of the board as per the BWSSB website is listed as follows

1. Providing water supply and making arrangements for the sewerage and disposal
of sewage in the existing and developing new regions of Bangalore Metropolitan Area.

2. Investigating adequacy of water supply for domestic purpose in Bangalore
Metropolitan area.

3. Preparation and implementation of plans and schemes for supply of water for
domestic purposes within the Bangalore Metropolitan area to the required standards.

4. Preparation and implementation of plans and schemes for proper sewerage
and disposal of sewage of the Bangalore Metropolitan area.

5. Levy & collection of water charges on “no loss no profit basis.”

 

The Organisation

Board Members: There are 7 Board Members

1.      Chairman, BWSSB

2.      Principal Secretary Finance Departments-GoK

3.      Principal Secretary-Urban Development Department GoK

4.      Commissioner- Bangalore Mahanagara Palike

5.      Commissioner-BDA;

6.      Two Non-Official Members.

• BWSSB is headed by the Chairman,
• The chairman is assisted by an Engineer-in-Chief and five Chief Engineers- one each for

·         Project

·         Maintenance

·         Corporate Planning

·         Waste water Management

·         Quality Assurance and Borewells.

In addition, there are the

·         Financial Advisor

·         Chief Administrative Officer

·         Public Relations Officer.

Each Chief Engineer is assisted by Additional Chief Engineers, Executive Engineers, Assistant Executive Engineers and Assistant Engineers. There is an Additional Chief Engineers for Vigilance and Quality Assurance. There are 66 Service Stations and 2610 employees working in BWSSB

Water Supply
a. From Cauvery to Bangalore:

The River Cauvery provides about 80% of all the water supplied by BWSSB. Four stages have been constructed thus far to augment the supply of water from the reservoir built at a village called Thorekadanahalli located South of Bangalore at a distance of 90km. The average aggregate supply from Couvery is 810 million litres per day (MLD) of treated water. BWSSB has implemented the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme- Stage I, II, III, & IV phase I. The Implementation of Cauvery Stage IV-Phase I further augments the water supply to the tune of 270 million liters per day. BWSSB is planning to implement 510 MLD capacity of Cauvery Stage IV-Phase II by the year 2010.

b. From Arkavathy to Bangalore:

The River Arkavathy provides about 20% (135 MLD) of all the water supplied by BWSSB during normal conditions. The reservoirs for river Arkavathy were constructed at Hesaraghatta and at Thippagondanahalli (TG halli) on Magadi road located about 35 kms from Bangalore during the year 1894 and 1933 respectively. The total potential yield from TG Halli is about 150 MLD. Note: It is not known if any water is actually obtained from the Arkavathy at this point in time.

The per capita water supply at present in Bangalore is about 100 to 125 (gross) liters per capita per day (LPCD) which is below the National Standard of 150-200 LPCD for a city of the size of Bangalore. However, the per capita availability of water for vast majority of poor people in Bangalore is only about 40-45 LPCD. With 150 LPCD as standard, the current demand is 900 MLD for a population of 6 million. However BWSSB is able to supply only about 810 MLD.

Disposal of sewage

Waste water from households and other establishments is collected through a network of small underground drainage pipes that are connected to larger pipes which carry waste water to the three sewage treatment plants located in three valleys. Viz, Vrishabavathy valley on Mysore Road (180 MLD) Koramangala-Chellaghatta Valley near the HAL Airport (163 MLD) and Hebbal valley on Bellary road (60 MLD). In addition BWSSB has recently constructed mini sewage treatment plants at Madivala and Kempambudi tank. These treatment plants are constructed and maintained by BWSSB. However, in many areas, the sewerage system is incomplete. Hence sewage is either simply let into the storm water drains (meant to carry only rain water) or lakes. This water is not fit for human consumption.

References

1. http://164.100.80.70/acts/ACTS%20E/20e.pdf (last accessed June 19, 2009)
2. http://www.bwssb.org/theorganization.html last accessed June 19, 2009

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