[sustran] Metro will ‘drain’ city

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/bengaluru/metro-will-%E2%80%98drain%E2%80%99-city-389

Metro will ‘drain’ city  By By Our Correspondent
 Oct 10 2009

Bengaluru, Oct. 9: The underground stretch of the Metro rail, which will run
for 10 km in two stages from Minsk square to BDA Circle and beyond, and the
proposed road below ground have given rise to fears that the already
depleting groundwater resources of Bengaluru, could worsen with countless
borewells becoming defunct in the process.

Currently Bengaluru has over four lakh borewells providing between 200 to
400 million litres of water per day (MLD) to the city . Of them only five
per cent are recharged and about 20 per cent have gone dry, with the
groundwater level in the city already depleting from 600 ft to 900 ft, says
water expert Vishwanath.

As the Metro rail and the road below ground will cut across the existing
dykes (a natural slope to regulate water levels) and faults (fractures in
the rocks), the movement of groundwater in the area could be badly affected,
warns Captain S .Raja Rao, former principal secretary, department of ecology
and environment.

All the existing borewells downstream, beyond the intersection points of the
dykes and faults, will become dry, leaving their existing users with no
water supply, he says ,explaining that the Metro Rail’s effect on
groundwater should have been examined in an Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) report.

“Unfortunately, the new EIA notification of September 14, 2006 issued by the
Union ministry of environment and forests, does not cover such
infrastructural projects of local authorities. This serious omission is
taken advantage by these authorities, who don’t bother to prepare EIAs and
even if they do, the projects do not come up for public hearing as they
should,” Capt. Rao says. In his view, the people living downstream of the
Metro tunnel should ensure that proper measures are taken to minimise the
harm done to the already depleting groundwater resources by adopting
rainwater harvesting and other practices. Also, those who stand to lose
their water supply should be compensated, he says.
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