Governments have come to power and gone, but 24 hour water supply to Canacona residents still remains a distant dream, despite the availability of water at Chapoli dam, say residents and hotel owners from the taluka. It may be hard to believe, but many villagers have resorted to digging of the ground to obtain water from river streams due to a scarcity of the precious resource. Canacona MLA, Ramesh Tawadkar, said that there is enough water in Chapoli dam, but the water cannot be pumped out due to the poor condition of pipes that were laid about 25 years ago, which are too narrow. Besides, the demand has increased today.
He noted that the government is making efforts to replace the existing pipelines and a tender for the new pipeline will be floated soon and will cost Rs 21 crore. He said that once this is done, Canacona will be rid of its water issue.
Tawadkar also said that the construction of the new dam at Gavanem has been completed and water will begin to be stored in it but will be able to be utilized only after the next rainy season. He also agreed that most affected people are from the tribal community and that tanker water is being supplied to them regularly. However, it is not a sufficient amount.
“People living in low lying areas get water, while people living at a higher altitude have dry taps. Efforts are on to service these people with more tankers,” added Tawadkar. “The water tankers supplying water to villagers cannot be taken on narrow, undone village roads and hence people have to walk great distances in order to get water for daily utilization,” said Diraj Naik from Delem.
Ex Sarpanch of Cotigao, Rajesh Gaonkar also mentioned that they face a drinking water problem every year and that this year the taluka was hit particularly hard. “The water that we, in the village, use is from dried underground rivers which is not very hygienic and is dangerous for consumption. This could be one of the reasons for the kidney ailments that people from the taluka suffer from,” he went on to say.
“Canacona has been facing an acute shortage right from January,” said Ramakant Naik Gaonkar, ex chairperson of the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC). Gaonkar also spoke of various complaints about scarcity of water and irregular supply from residents. He added that some wards barely receive water for an hour and that too at odd hours of the day.
When contacted, Lester D’Souza, PWD assistant engineer stated that the municipality is responsible, to some extent for this problem while giving occupancy certificates to various buildings. He further added that the pipelines are old and more pressure cannot be put on them as they may burst, which happens a lot.
“People wait for the PWD tankers and then serpentine queues are formed in various parts of the taluka. Sometimes, after standing in lines for a long time, they have to return empty handed because the tanker doesn’t turn up,” added Namita Pagui, panch of Agonda.
