Bengaluru Says Will Use Treated Sewage Water For Cricket Pitch

Bengaluru: Days after the Bombay High Court pulled up the Maharashtra government over watering cricket pitches during drought, Bengaluru has suggested a solution it had been working on for a while: Using treated sewage water for its Chinnaswamy stadium. The water will be used only on days matches will be held.

"During IPL, the usage is roughly about 15,000 to 17,000 litres per day," said Santosh Menon, Assistant Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association.

The sewage treatment plant, he said, is using water from the sewage lines that run below the stadium. "So that's the purpose of this plant... Bring in the sewage, treat the water and use it for better purposes," he added.

Setting up the plant has cost Karnataka Cricket Association around Rs 85 lakh. It will be commissioned within a week.

Girish Chapla, chief of the Oasis Group which has built the sewage treatment plant located inside the stadium grounds, says it even saves space. "The cost of land is precious in urban areas."

"We are taking water from municipal corporation main gutter line. Raw untreated sewage, which we are treating through most advanced biological treatment system," he said. "Our focus is to accommodate treatment system in relatively less footprint."

This will help the cricket festival, the revenue from which could be put to good use, says Mr Menon. "Probably the Latur drought situation can be sorted out by the money they generate -- or probably have a cess for IPL like the Swatch Bharath cess of 0.01% or something like that," he added.

Karnataka High Court advocate, K Diwakara, has filed a plea in court, demanding an audit of how much water is being used in private commercial events like IPL. "Somebody has to bell the cat. When Bengaluru is facing a water problem, there should be some water audit, how much water we are using for commercial ventures?" he said.

The drought in Karnataka is said to be the worst since 1972. The state's reservoirs have been drying up and the water level in most dams has dropped so low that drinking water is now a priority.