Next month: Bangalore

In Bangalore, the Indian city often dubbed the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, technical know-how is in no short supply. But the same can’t be said for that most basic necessity: water. The busy capital of India’s southern Karnataka state is experiencing major water supply shortages and for the past 20 years its people have survived by pumping groundwater. With supplies expected to run out by 2025 however, this can’t go on indefinitely.

The irony of the situation is that Bangalore is a place famous for its lakes, first built by Maharajah Kempe Gowda, a chieftan of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 1500s. But these oases are now severely damaged. At Bellandur lake, the largest in the city, a white foam forms on the surface because of the detergents that make their way into the water.

Bangalore is India’s third largest megalopolis and has experienced dazzling development: it accounts for 10 per cent of India’s GDP. But it also lags 30 years behind in the management of waste water. It’s a problem that impacts everyone, not just the poorest members of society. Even in the wealthiest compounds, featuring names such as Strawberry Fields, Tuscany, Bellevue and Dream Acres, residents have serious complaints about bad smells, bad drinking water and ultimately a bad quality of life.

In the next issue of Geographical, writer Sebastien Daycard and photographer Laurent Weyl travel to Bangalore to find out how the prosperous city operates given its severe problems.