Bengaluru and Cape Town: A tale of two cities hit by water scarcity

Subject: Geography

Section: Indian physical geography

Context:

With Bengaluru facing severe water shortage, many have compared the city’s predicament to Cape Town’s in 2015-18.

The Cape Town water crisis:

Cape Town faced a serious water shortage between 2015 and 2018, which peaked around 2017.
It was characterized by critically low levels of water in the city’s reservoirs.
The scarcity was such that the prospect of “Day Zero”- the day when municipal authorities would effectively cut water supply due to empty reserves, and residents would have to queue up for a daily ration of water — defined life in the city.
This would have made Cape Town the first major city in the world to “run out” of water.
The crisis was caused by a prolonged period of below-average rainfall, resulting in a drought across the Western Cape.
This resulted in the water levels in Cape Town’s reservoirs dropping significantly.

Bengaluru water crisis- Low rainfall a key reason:

The crisis in Bengaluru is caused by scanty rainfall in the Cauvery basin — which accounts for 60% of the city’s water supply — and the depletion of its groundwater reserves.
Like in Cape Town, Bengaluru’s water reservoirs have fallen to critically low levels due to this.
At the peak of the crisis, Cape Town’s Theewaterskloof Dam, the single largest source of water in the city, was filled to only 11.3% of its capacity.
Areas like Varthur, Marathahalli, Bellandur, Byrathi, Hoodi, Whitefield, and Kadugodi are completely dependent on water tankers to meet daily water needs.

Urbanization also to blame

Beyond low rainfall, rapid, unplanned urbanization has played a significant role in the crisis in both Cape Town and Bengaluru.
In Cape Town, as the city expanded, existing water infrastructure (reservoirs, pipelines and treatment plants) struggled to keep up with demand.
Bengaluru too has seen something similar.
In the 1800s, the city had 1,452 water bodies, with roughly 80% of its area covered in greenery. Now, only 193 water bodies remain, and green cover is below 4%.

Drastic impact on daily lives:

Water scarcity has drastically impacted the daily lives of citizens in Bengaluru, like it did in Cape Town.
Restrictions have been imposed on water usage.
At the peak of Cape Town’s water crisis, citizens were allowed to use no more than 50 liters of water daily.
Like in Cape Town, Bengaluru’s poor are the worst hit in the crisis, with increased health risks arising due to the lack of water for sanitation and hygiene purposes.