Hydrology and political economy of domestic water consumption in Bangalore: Towards economic efficiency, biophysical sustainability, and social justice

Abstract

Rapid population growth and economic activity in Indian cities have overwhelmed their ecological support base, leading to chronic shortages in electricity, water and road space while increasingly polluting the physical environment (NIUA 2005). One of the key barriers to sustainable cities is the lack of a ‘systems’ understanding of problems that cut across myriad aspects of the urban sustainability conundrum. Almost all ‘environmental’ challenges facing India’s urban centers originate from social, economic, and political processes that are traditionally not considered part of the urban ecological predicament (Solomon 2000). Bangalore is a poster-child of these problems, having grown from 1.65 million inhabitants in 1971, to 8+million today. It is now the third-most populous city in India and was the fastest growing metropolis in the country after New Delhi, with an economic growth of above 10%.