FJA 2019 / Shortlist
Category: Excellence in Environmental Journalism
Laurie Goering, Claudio Accheri
(United Kingdom)
“Running dry: Competing for water on a thirsty planet”
Thomson Reuters Foundation
May 31st, 2019
In India's 'Silicon Valley' tech hub of Bangalore, where gleaming office complexes and apartment blocks have sprouted faster than the plumbing to serve them, only 60% of the water the city needs each day arrives through its water pipes.
Much of the rest is pumped from groundwater wells and delivered to homes and offices by a fleet of private tanker trucks that growl through the city of 12 million's streets.
But Bangalore's groundwater is running dry. A government think tank last year predicted the city - like others in India, including New Delhi - could run out of usable groundwater as early as 2020 as aquifers deplete.
By 2030, half of India's population - now about 1.4 billion people - may lack enough drinking water, the report predicted.