BENGALURU, March 7 (Reuters) - Bengaluru's acute water

shortage is slowing production at its garment factories,

doubling restaurant water bills and forcing managers at some

global firms in "India's Silicon Valley" to accommodate unusual

employee demands.

The southern Indian city is home to about 14 million people,

thousands of startups and international firms from Walmart ( WMT )

to Alphabet's Google.

"My team is skipping meetings to chase water tankers," a

senior employee at Dell said on condition of anonymity,

lamenting the hit to productivity.

The shortage, caused by weak southwest monsoon rains that

failed to replenish depleted groundwater and the Cauvery River

basin reservoirs, has already forced residents to ration water

use and pay almost double the usual price to meet their daily

needs.

"This is just the beginning of summer, we don't know how it

is going to turn out," said Chethan Hegde, head of the Bengaluru

arm of the National Restaurants Association of India.

Some restaurants are considering using disposable plates to

save on washing-up, while others are putting up advisories in

restrooms and training staff on how to operate with less water.

Larger companies are changing tack too.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) is using tap aerators to control water

flow and recycling water in the washrooms at its office in

Bagmane Constellation Business Park, an employee said, citing a

memo sent to workers.

Walmart ( WMT ), which implemented similar water conservation

measures well before the crisis, said it was also encouraging

landlords to use recycled water for landscaping and gardening.

Some employees who live in water-scarce areas prefer to work

in the office, a senior Accenture employee said.

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Dell and Accenture did not respond to requests

seeking comment.

The crisis has reached Bengaluru's factories too.

"Manufacturers cannot afford to stall production, they are

trying their best to go on, but work has slowed down," South

India Garment Association President Anurag Singhla said.

TENSIONS RISE

The situation worsened this week when some providers of

water tanks - which the city relies on when river and

groundwater levels are too low - went on strike after the state

government moved to regulate them.

Dealers hiked prices for a 12,000-litre tanker of water to

as much as 2,000 rupees ($24.19) in February, from 1,200 rupees

($14.51) in January, Reuters found last month.

The city has capped the price of such tankers commissioned

by the government at 1,200 rupees per unit, according to a March

6 order seen by Reuters.

The government has also allocated 5.56 billion rupees

($67.24 million) to deal with the water shortage but some

industry captains are not very hopeful.

"(The water board) had promised us treated water, but we

don't expect to get that until next year," Peenya Industries

Association President H.M. Arif said. "Already, micro industries

are on oxygen and higher costs will lead to losses and they will

have to be closed if the situation continues."

($1 = 82.6830 Indian rupees)