Imagine a city located at around 900 metres above sea level. Imagine also that there are no perennial rivers nearby and imagine that the city has a population of 10 million and growing rapidly. That, in short, is the city of Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka.
For a city famed for its moderate climate, in its infancy, water supply to citizens was not a problem. The population was small, the demands less and a myriad ‘tanks’ (man-made lakes for irrigation) were sufficient for water supply — usually drawn through wells. However, as early as 1874, problems. . .