You wake up and head to the kitchen, half-asleep, reaching for the tap to rinse your cup — but nothing comes out. You try the bathroom. Still nothing. The tank didn’t fill last night, and the tanker you called? No sign of it. You step out into the corridor, and someone’s already asking, “Did the water come?”

If you live in Bengaluru, you’ve probably had a morning like this. Not just once, but too many times.

Dr Rohit Nara knows the feeling. Having grown up in Bengaluru, he believes the city’s water crisis stems more from mismanagement than an actual lack of water.

Last summer, Bengaluru faced a significant water crisis, driven by a weak monsoon, excessive groundwater extraction, and rapid urban expansion. Many communities in the city rely heavily on water tankers for their daily needs. This reliance considerably raises costs, as tanker water is much more expensive than other sources.

“A major part of the water loss in Bengaluru arises from undetected leaks in infrastructure, such as underground pipelines and storage facilities. Over time, these small, often unnoticed cracks lead to substantial water loss,” he shares.

He recalls an instance from his building, where nearly a full day’s supply of water was lost due to underground leaks. “Most residents don’t use water level controllers. So, motors are always left running, leading to overflow. This adds to non-revenue water — water that’s produced but not billed, either due to leaks or theft,” he says.

Dr Rohit also notes that borewells, when not managed efficiently, produce significantly less water. “Our manually managed borewell initially produced only about 400-500 litres of water a day, which was inadequate for the seven or eight families in our building. After implementing an automation system, the borewell’s output increased to........

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