K’taka water crisis: NGT seeks cricket association’s reply on water sources in Chinnaswamy stadium

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) to furnish details about the various sources of water, including four 400-feet deep bore wells, in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy stadium.

The tribunal, which was hearing the matter regarding the supply of treated water to the stadium for the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches amid the water crisis in the state, noted that the stadium’s total usage or water consumption was 1,94,000 litre a day, of which 80,000 litre was fresh water. The tribunal had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of a media report claiming that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) upon request of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has permitted the supply of treated water to the stadium. Last month, it had directed the BWSSB to file a detailed report with complete details of the quantity and source of water being used in the stadium.

In an order passed on Thursday, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noting the board’s report pointed out that the stadium’s different sources of water included four bore wells, each of 400 feet depth, and these bore wells were not equipped with meters for calculating water usage. The bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, noted that the report also said approval was granted for the daily supply of 64,000 litre of treated water for non-drinking purposes.

The stadium’s total water consumption was 1,94,000 litre a day, of which 80,000 litre was fresh water, 50,000 litre was purchased or rain water harvested (RWH) water and 64,000 was treated water, the bench said citing the report.

The bench noted the reply of the KSCA about seeking some time for disclosing the ”full details of various sources” from which it obtained water. The tribunal directed the KSCA to also ”disclose the details of permissions which have been granted in respect of the four bore wells”, since when groundwater is being extracted from these bore wells and when they were dug, including the quantity of water extracted. It also asked the association to share the particulars of the sewage treatment plant (STP) which had been set up in the stadium and the details of its operation or performance. ”Let the reply on above terms be filed by respondent no. 4 (KSCA) within four weeks,” the tribunal said. The matter has been posted for hearing on August 13 for further proceedings.