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Summary of the keynote delivered at the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Water Day on 08 April 2026, at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics, University, presided over by BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar. The event also featured a panel discussion on the issue of water and gender.
I was invited to deliver the keynote address at BWSSB Water Day on 08 April 2026 at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics, University, presided over by BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar.
The event also featured a panel discussion with distinguished experts, including Smt. Mamatha Devi G.S., Registrar at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics, University; Smt. Veena R. Achyutha, Scientist at the Central Ground Water Board; and Smt. Asha S., Founder Secretary of Arohana Rural Organisation, Vinjinahalli.
This is a summary of my keynote. The points made in the keynote are covered in detail in our upcoming State of the Cauvery Basin Report.
In my talk, I connected the dots from the planetary scale of the crisis to what we are witnessing in our own rivers. Starting with Stockholm University’s planetary boundary transgressions of “freshwater change” and “novel entities,” I traced this down to the Central Pollution Control Board’s identification of polluted river stretches across India, then to Karnataka, and finally to the Cauvery basin.
In the Cauvery basin alone, the 2025 assessment shows 165 kilometers of the Cauvery—from upstream of KRS to Mekedatu; 110 kilometers of the Shimsha—from Marconally Dam to Halgur; 97 kilometers of the Kabini—from downstream of Kabini Dam to T. Narasipura; 132 kilometers of the Arkavathi—from upstream of Hesarghatta Reservoir to Sangama in Kanakapura; and a 10-kilometer stretch of the Lakshmanathirtha at Hunsur—all are polluted, every single kilometer. That adds up to over 500 kilometers of polluted river length in the Cauvery basin, with all these polluted stretches converging at Mekedatu.
In the 2025 CPCB assessment, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the basin ranged from 3.5 mg/l to 72 mg/l. But BOD, while an indicator of pollution, tells us very little about the nature and scale of what is actually present in the water and the risks it poses to human health, especially to women.
I laid out peer-reviewed evidence on the critical issue of waterborne superbugs, which our rivers, streams, and even wastewater treatment systems are teeming with. I also discussed the role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in these rivers, including the Cauvery.
I explained how secondary treatment does not remove these contaminants, allowing them to enter our food systems and drinking water. Evidence was also presented on their impact on women’s health, along with personal examples. (These findings will be covered in detail in our upcoming State of the Cauvery Basin Report.)
Ultimately, the toll these superbugs and endocrine-disrupting chemicals take on our bodies makes the pervasive problem of pollution deeply personal, and it is a problem that is getting worse by the day.
Pollution is personal, pervasive, and a public health emergency.
I made a plea to the engineers to see, understand, and acknowledge the nature and magnitude of the problem beyond BOD. Addressing this requires moving beyond business as usual. Interventions at the level of household products, sewer systems, treatment processes, and cautious use of treated municipal effluents are urgently needed. Solutions exist, the institutions must have the will to act.
The BWSSB Chairman, who listened patiently, spoke next and highlighted the Board’s role in providing water of adequate quantity and quality at an affordable cost.
