Title of the article Bengaluru faces a shortage of 500 MLD water daily, admits Chief

Minister Siddaramaiah.

Source of the article [Link]

shortage-of-500-mld-water-daily-admits-chief-minister-
siddaramaiah/[Link]

Date the article was March 18, 2024 06:10 pm

published

Date the commentary April 6, 2024

was written

Word count 819

Unit of syllabus Microeconomics

which relates to the
article

Key concept being Scarcity

used

Article

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that Bengaluru is facing a shortage of 500 million litres per day
(MLD) water every day and the State government has taken various measures to mitigate its impact.
This is the first time that the water shortage the city is facing this summer has been quantified.

What city needs

“The city needs 2,600 MLD of water, of which 1,450 MLD is coming from the Cauvery and 650
MLD from the underground water table through borewells. There is a shortage of 500 MLD,” he said.

The Chief Minister was speaking after chairing a review meeting of the drinking water crisis in the
city on Monday, the first time he had done so.
Apart from elaborating on several measures taken to mitigate and navigate through the crisis, Mr.
Siddaramaiah also announced that a technical advisory committee would be formed to ensure that
such a drinking water crisis doesn’t recur in the city.

Mr. Siddaramaiah said that there was enough water in the Cauvery basin to provide for the drinking
water needs of the city till June-end, by when the monsoon would have begun. “There is 11.02 tmcft
of water in the KRS reservoir and 9.02 tmcft in the Kabini reservoir,” he said.

Crisis in outer zones

The crisis is in the outer zones which are yet to be served by the Cauvery water, the Chief Minister
said. “These areas will also get the Cauvery water from this June after the Cauvery Stage V is
commissioned,” he said.

At present, these areas are solely dependent on borewells and owing to drought many of them have
gone dry, exacerbating the problem, he said. “Of the 14,000 government borewells in the city, 6,900
have dried up. We are drilling new borewells in 313 places and rejuvenating 1,200 borewells. Funds
are not a problem. We have given enough funds for drinking water purposes,” he said.

Role of BBMP and BWSSB

Mr. Siddaramaiah directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore
Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) officials to increase the number of control rooms and
attend to complaints of water shortage immediately. “You will be held responsible if people suffer
from water shortage,” he told officials.

He said the officials have been directed to commandeer any private tankers, including the Karnataka
Milk Federation (KMF) tankers, to supply water. “Presently, we are supplying after commandeering
water from private borewells, including those at malls,” he said.

14 lakes to be filled
The Chief Minister said that treated water will be filled in dry lakes of the city on the lines of the K.C.
Valley project. Treated water from K.C. Valleys in the city are being used to fill lakes and tanks in
Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.

“We have identified 14 lakes in the city for the project. This will help revive and improve the
underground water table levels around these lakes,” he said.
 Commentary

A significant shortage of water has occurred in [Link] leads to the topic being connected to
one of the nine key concepts, which is scarcity. This article is about the shortage of water in
Bangalore which leads to scarcity of the resource in the society.

The resource ‘water’ is inelastic in demand as at any given price the demand of water will not change
because water is a necessity good and the society is willing to pay any given price to receive water as
a good. Water scarcity in Bangalore underlines the imbalance between the demand and supply of
water. The city needs 2,600 MLD of water; however, the water sources can only provide 2,100 MLD
of water; this can be modelled below with a diagram of market disequilibrium where the demand is
more than the supply.

The supply of water decreased from 2,600 which is Q(e), was the market equilibrium originally
however, the decrease of supply from 2,600 to 2,100 Q(s) led to a shortage of 500 MLD that created
disequilibrium within the market and the demand increased Q(d). The given diagram shows the
shortage of water and the interconnection of the dynamics of demand and supply.
Additionally, it is a prime example of the concept of common pool resources
Natural resources are an example of common pool resources that are not owned by anyone, not sold
in markets and not having a price; their lack of a price makes them subject to overuse (unsustainable
use), depletion and degradation, that creates it a rivalrous good. Examples: forests, rivers, lakes, soil
quality, fish in the oceans.

The government intervention is considerably high due to the severe water crises and has also taken
actions by commandeering private tankers, like the karnataka milk federation (KMF) to supply water.
Microeconomics observes how market structure and government intervention affects the market. The
government's intervention in this planned economy will have an impact on the efficiency and equity
of water distribution within the city.

To ease this situation the government of Bangalore has decided various allocation of resources. The
government has decided to invest in building 313 new borewells and reviving 1,200 borewells with
water to mitigate the shortage of water in the outer zones of Bangalore. These funds for allocation of
resources for construction of wells can be illustrated by a resource allocation flowchart for water
supply depicted below.
resource allocation flowchart [Link]
multi-source-water-supply_fig2_340883447

This diagram of water supply illustrates the distribution and consumption of water resources within a
region. This diagram shows the infrastructure involved in water treatment, storage, and domestic use.
This diagram is useful as it offers insights into the balance between water availability and
consumption, highlighting potential areas of scarcity or inefficiency.

There are several negative externalities associated with water scarcity in Bangalore. Firstly, the
conflicts over water resources will increase and particularly be high because water is a necessity good
for the society as well as a free good in forms like wells, lakes and underground water which have no
restrictions on who can use water which means non-excludability in economic terms. Secondly, there
is a possibility of displacement of communities residing in the particular area as the government of
Bangalore is constructing 313 new borewells and can lead to inadequate compensation for
resettlement to another area. Thirdly, environmental degradation like over extraction of water because
of the new 313 borewells will reduce levels of water that can lead to a disruption in the aquatic
ecosystem, harm marine life and habitat loss.

1
In regions such as Bangalore the demand for water in the long run becomes inelastic as the quantity of
water available is scarce and in economic concepts this also means that the demand for water will
become inelastic as the changes in price do not affect the demand by a lot. Although the article doesn't
mention changes in price, this tends to happen when the supply is low but the demand for any product
is high so the product ought to become price inelastic. This can be showcased below with a price
inelastic demand curve.

This diagram shows that an increase in price from P1 to P2 changes the demand from Q1 to Q2. P1 is
the initial price of water in Bangalore corresponding to it is Q1 which represents the demand for it and
the same for P2 instead the quantity demanded is Q2, which is less than Q1 due to increase in price
however, the change from P1 to P2 is higher.

Conclusion

In response to the water crises in Bangalore, the government has implied a strategy to showcase both
immediate and long-term implications of resolving this issue. The article reflects on the mechanism of
demand exceeding supply. The governments intervention, include building of wells and various other
resource allocation, and also commandeering the private water tankers to supply enough water to the
needed area to manage the water crisis.
 Works Cited

“Bengaluru Water Crisis: Bengaluru facing shortage of 500 MLD water daily, admits CM

Siddaramaiah.” The Hindu, 18 March 2024,

[Link]

water-daily-admits-chief-minister-siddaramaiah/[Link]. Accessed 22 April

2024.

Tragakes, Ellie. Economics for the IB Diploma Coursebook with Digital Access (2 Years).

Cambridge University Press, 2020.