Explained: Why demand for water tankers dropped in Bengaluru?

There are three factors that have reduced the demand for water tankers in Bengaluru.

In the early days of 2019 and early 2020s, people used to see water tankers plying around every street in Bengaluru where houses and apartments had no Cauvery water connections. Large apartments in the city were facing a water crisis during the summer season in spite of having borewells.

Two years later, the demand for water tankers has dropped. Many apartments, which used to face scarcity of water in April and May, are just relying on borewells to meet their water requirement. So, what has changed in the last two years and why the demand for water tankers have dropped?

Factor 1:
The first and foremost reason is non-Bengalureans leaving the city due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. In the last two years, many IT companies have given work-from-option to their employees. While many have vacated their rented houses, thousands of people are working from their native. Hence, the water requirement has come down.

Factor 2:
In the last two years, Bengaluru received excess rains. From June 1 to September 30 in 2021, the Garden City recorded 468 mm rainfall against the normal of 471 mm that helped borewells to recharge. This was a key factor that helped apartments to meet their water requirement.

Factor 3:
Work on laying Cauvery water supply pipelines under the fifth stage was completed in 2020. People from 51 villages used to depend on tankers, but now over 30 per cent of the people have got Cauvery new connections. So, demand for water tankers has come down drastically in those areas on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

However, the demand for water tankers is expected to increase once Bengaluru is back to pre-pandemic levels.