Dry days loom over Bangalore garden

Botanical garden that gave Bangalore its monicker, Garden City, gets parched after water supply falls 20 per cent, all thanks to summer heat

Bangalore's greenest stretch is in the red. The 240-acre Lalbagh garden, one of the most diverse botanical gardens in South Asia, has been left high and dry this summer thanks to the progressively worsening water situation in the city.

The monsoons are two months away and the borewells in the garden have dried up.

The water supply to Lalbagh, which houses over 1,800 species of plants, has fallen by 20 per cent a day.
The garden needs 1.5 MLD of water on a day.

Callous visitors to the Lalbagh botanical garden have damaged sprinklers that help save water.

Officials speak

"It is true Lalbagh is grappling with a water crisis. The inflow of treated sewage water to the garden from the treatment plant has fallen.

A portion of Lalbagh was taken for the metro project. To compensate, 1,200 saplings were planted.
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It is these tender saplings that have been most affected by the water shortage," said a botanical garden official, who did not wish to be named.

"We had a severe water shortage last month," admitted M Jagdish, a senior official at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden.

"The decrease in water consumption due to water shortage led to a dip in supply of sewage water from neighbourhoods like Jaynagar fourth block, Ashoka Pillar and Siddapur to our Lalbagh sewage water treatment plant.

The second factor that has contributed to the shortage of water is the drying up of groundwater due to the summer heat," he added.

Rains awaited

Jagdish said he expects the situation to improve from May 15 when he expect the monsoon's first showers.

"If it does not rain by then, we will explore other options. However, we do expect the situation to improve by June," Jagdish added.

1,800
Number of plants in Lalbagh garden

20
Number of new species of vegetation planted recently