India, March 6 -- A government pushed into emergency measures - taking over all irrigation and commercial borewells, and mandating the registration of every private water tanker in the city. Residents pushed into emergency measures of their own - instructions to stop washing cars and balconies, bathe with half a bucket of water, and or use a "half flush" after daily ablutions.

Bengaluru, one of India's bonafide metropolitan cities with a population of above 13 million - where the glass edifices of multinational conglomerates house some of the country's most prolific IT talent; where streets such as MG Road and Brigade Road twinkle with upscale revelry every evening; where the apartment buildings grow ever taller and the traffic ever more...