From the city of technology to the "city of water tankers", "India's Silicon Valley" is suffering from a water shortage

Interface News Reporter | Cai Xingzhuo

Interface News Editor | Liu Haichuan

"All the buckets are empty and there has been no water for days. Kumkum, a resident of Bandpaglia, pointed to the empty barrel in his home.

The summer of 2024 is yet to arrive, but after witnessing unusually hot February and March, the poorest people in and around Bangalore, India, are bearing the brunt of the water crisis. In this low-income neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, known as "India's Silicon Valley," residents have been lining up since 9 a.m. with buckets of water waiting for the arrival of water trucks. Scenes of confusion and anxiety ensued as they busily filled the buckets and took them home – the women tried to fill several large buckets, and the waterwheel was emptied in a matter of minutes.

Susheela, a resident of Bande Paglia who owns a family of four, said that residents of Bande Paglia typically earn between 6,000 and 8,000 rupees (about 520 to 690 yuan) a month, and many of them now have no choice but to spend half of their income to buy water from a tanker. Like millions of people in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, Susheela's home has run dry and the well that supplies her home is empty. However, the upper classes have not been spared from the crisis.

Geeta Menon, a social worker working with low-income communities in Bangalore, said the water crisis could trigger illness as sanitation levels dropped. Meanwhile, CNN said the crisis had turned into a "game of political blame" in the weeks leading up to India's election. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has protested the mismanagement of the situation by the government led by the main opposition Congress party. The Congress party, for its part, claims that the BJP has not done enough at the federal level to help with the crisis financially.

A long-standing water crisis

Every day, the city of Bangalore is supposed to provide about 2 billion litres of water to nearly 14 million residents. Water experts fear that the worst-case scenario for Bengaluru's water scarcity will come in April and May, when the city sees the strongest summer sunshine.

Studies have shown that in monsoon-affected areas like India, droughts were repeated and caused great famines in the 19th and 20th centuries. India is very susceptible to drought, with about two-thirds of the region being prone to drought. In addition, the frequency, severity and duration of droughts in India have increased in recent decades, and climate change is expected to further exacerbate them.

There have been reports that Bengaluru has received very little rainfall over the past few years, partly due to human-caused climate change. The water level here is "hopelessly low", especially in poor areas. Authorities said of the 13,900 wells drilled in Bangalore, 6,900 of them have dried up, although some have been drilled to a depth of 457 meters, according to a March 2024 report. This means that those who rely on groundwater now have to rely on water trucks that pump water from nearby villages. This has also led to soaring water prices and rapidly decreasing supplies. Municipal and local government authorities are trying to control the situation through emergency measures, such as nationalizing water tankers and capping water bills.

Another concern is that the paved ground in the city covers nearly 90 percent of the area, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground and storing it underground, according to T.V. Ramachandra, a research scientist at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science. Over the past 50 years, the city has lost nearly 70 percent of its green cover, he said.

The Indian government estimated in 2018 that more than 40 per cent of Bengaluru residents would have no access to drinking water by approaching 2028. Experts suggest that Bangalore should focus on replenishing water to more than 200 lakes across the city, halting new construction in the lake districts, encouraging rainwater harvesting, and increasing the city's green areas. In addition, Shashank Palur, an Indian hydrologist, suggested that reusing treated wastewater in cities would also reduce the need for fresh water, thus helping to help the current situation.

When India's Silicon Valley suffers a water crisis, will working from home become the new option?

Thanks to its 900-meter altitude and pleasant climate, the abundance of greenery and surrounding forests have earned Bangalore the title of "Garden City of India". For decades, Bangalore has been known for its extensive network of man-made lakes, and it is they that provide water to the city's dwellers. However, since the early 90s of the 20th century, Bangalore has undergone rapid urbanization and transformed into a major technology hub, leading to exponential growth. As the city grew and more than tripled its population, developers cut down forests to build homes around the lake.

Known as the "Silicon Valley of India", as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore is home to 67,000 registered IT companies. International giants such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel have set up their regional headquarters here, as well as large multinational companies such as Indian software company Infosys and Indian information technology outsourcing company Wipro.

In the current era of AI, the exploration of new areas by tech giants will not alleviate the water crisis, because AI "cannot exist without water". According to the Times of India, ChatGPT-like chatbots need to consume up to 500ml of water to cool the server during a typical long conversation of 20-50 questions.

Against this backdrop, severe water shortages in Bangalore are slowing down production in garment factories, doubling water bills in restaurants, and forcing managers of multinational companies in India's "Silicon Valley" to meet the needs of their employees as they used to be. "My team is giving up meetings to chase water trucks. A senior Dell employee, who asked not to be named, said he regretted the impact on productivity.

Large companies are also changing their strategies. A Microsoft employee cited a memo to employees saying that the company began using tap water aerators to control the flow of water in restrooms and recycle water in its offices at the Bagmane Constellation business park. Walmart implemented similar water-saving measures long before the water crisis.

Separately, in an interview, a senior Accenture employee said that some employees who live in water-scarce areas prefer to work in the office. Amid the ongoing water crisis, there have been many calls on social networks for the IT industry and the government to provide work-from-home (WFH) arrangements. They believe that if WFH is offered on a temporary basis, it will help reduce the population of India's Silicon Valley and help tide over the water crisis.