WATER | CONSERVE TO MEET DEMAND

POWER | GRID DEPENDENCE FALLS, RENEWABLE ENERGY IS IN

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT | BIGGER PILES OF FILTH

BENGALURU: Here's a picture of Bengaluru, and it's not too pretty: a smoking, fuel-guzzling, congested metropolis where citizens spend many hours on the roads, which is hitting productivity and translating into huge losses. All because the city lacks a robust public transport system.It is perhaps the most unnerving revelation made about economic impact due to congestion in Bengaluru.The Revised Master Plan 2031 that the Bangalore Development Authority put out in the public domain on Wednesday, said 1.18 crore citizens waste 60 crore (600 million) man hours annually. And this translates to Rs 3,700 crore, including Rs 1,350 crore on fuel alone, and the rest on productivity (man hours) loss.The lack of a public transport network has been dealt with in detail in the RMP. Over 90 lakh trips are made in a day by Bengalureans, which means every citizen in making one trip a day. But BMTC only caters to half of the load.BDA admits that the shortage of public transport options has increased the number of private vehicles on the road, adding to congestion and reducing vehicle speed to 11kmph in 2015.Fuel losses amount to Rs 50 crore annually by the citizen -almost 2.8 lakh litres are wasted per hour a day in the city.A BDA source told TOI, “The RMP has also conducted origin and destination (OD) surveys across 500 zones in BBMP limits to understand the traffic models in each zone, and where and how people move. Some data was gathered by manual collection of data and photographs and also from secondary sources like BMTC, BMRCL and DULT etc. This will help us come out with effective plans for transport like the Metro, light rail, suburban rail and buses.“BDA analysis says that traffic congestion will triple its effect on the business sector, and the share of public transport mode (mainly bus) will decrease to 36% from the existing 47% by 2031.The RMP has focused on adopting various elements of `travel demand management' using the origin-destination studies from the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Study in 2008. And of course, on integrating with landREVISED MASTER PLAN FORESEES SCARCITY, DEPENDENCE ON RENEWABLE RESOURCESWater scarcity is being reasoned as one of the major causes for the slipping livability quotient of Bengaluru.According to the RMP 2031 document, by 2051, water shortage will be around 69.45tmcft despite adopting shortand mid-term solutions to increase conservation and draw more from river basins.BWSSB supplies 1470 MLD (million litres per day) of which 46% is lost through unaccounted water flow (illegal connections). But that still does not cater to all the outer areas of the city yet.Water demand will be 5,340 MLD (50tmcft) for a population of over 20 million by 2031. This includes 3,920 MLD for domestic potable use and another 2,745 MLD for non-potable and commercial consumption.“We have 29tmcft awarded from the Cauvery Water Tribunal but the distribution lines for entire Bengaluru city are not yet ready. That is why the crisis deepens. We've planned to increase our Local Planning Area jurisdiction to 1219 sqkm of Bengaluru, beyond the existing BBMP limits, to cap haphazard development in gram panchayat areas under the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area and also to ensure planned infrastructure for resource access to all in the 1219 sqkm area,“ a BDA official said. BWSSB is also to expand its coverage area for supply of drinking water and sewerage connections to the entire city. One of the key concerns is to reduce unaccounted water flow which stands at 46% at present.Although the government analyzes the power distribution quality to be fairly good, citizens don't agree. Power cuts, power quality supply has moved many away from the grid and opt for rooftop solar power systems. However, RMP forecasts dependency on renewable energy and estimates Bengaluru can generate 14,880 Million Units of solar power by 2031 and 313 MU from biomass.The power demand is growing at a flat rate of 9.5%, according to details from Bescom.Bengaluru draws 50% of the power generated and supplied in the entire state -12,455 MU per day and 2161 MW is the peak load during peak hours.Staggering power, regularizing irrigational pump sets and various measures of capping waste has not met the demand. Thus, pushing the tariff remains the only option for the company but as it increases tariff, more big consumers reduce dependency on the grid, making it a vicious cycle in the sector.An average Bengalurean already consumes 1,219 units of power a day (according to 2014 data) which was just 827 units a day in 2005. The city has 80% of domestic consumers, 11.8% of consumers include commercial, while the share of agricultural and industrial consumers is negligible. RMP estimates that energy demand will grow by 11.6% in the city by 2031.Although this seems to be much under control for the state government, waste generation estimates for 2031 are shocking. Per capita waste generation is likely to grow by 1.3% a year -from 644gm per day to 905gm.This means Bengaluru will generate 18,390 million tonnes of municipal waste by 2031, with a population of over 20 million. It generated 7,826MT in 2015. By 2020, the figure is likely to touch the 10,787MT mark. All this only pushes the requirement of more land for landfills . But that is not the only alternative BDA proposes. Landfill requirement by 2031 is going to be 30%, says the RMP.But a deeper look shows 58% of municipal waste is biodegradable, as per SWM Master Plan 2009. It is estimated that about 7,000MT waste will be dumped, despite processing which requires more land. Land will be identified jointly by BDA and BBMP to identify and use as landfills.