India’s Silicon Valley Faces a Water Crisis That Software Cannot Solve
Bengaluru gets plenty of rain. But the city did not properly adapt as its soaring population strained traditional water sources.
Filling up with subsidized water at a government distribution center in the Indian city of Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore. Credit...
The water tankers seeking to fill their bellies bounced past the dry lakes of India’s booming technology capital. Their bleary-eyed drivers waited in line to suck what they could from wells dug a mile deep into dusty lots between app offices and apartment towers named for bougainvillea — all built before sewage and water lines could reach them.
At one well, where neighbors lamented the loss of a mango grove, a handwritten logbook listed the water runs of a crisis: 3:15 and 4:10 one morning; 12:58, 2:27 and 3:29 the next.
“I get 50 calls a day,” said Prakash Chudegowda, a tanker driver in south Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore, as he connected a hose to the well. “I can only get to 15.”
