VASCO: A well at Matvem-Dabolim area was sealed by the government authorities and the oil company after it was found that water was contaminated with a petroleum product. The incident recounted the horrific fire reported at Dhaktollem, Vasco when five persons had died due to naphtha leakage in August 2011.
The immediate action to seal the well was taken after the Chicalim panchayat wrote to the Disaster Management Authority regarding the contamination of the well with petroleum products. The residents expressed their apprehensions that either petroleum or naphtha pipeline might be leaking and the leaked inflammable products were percolating down and contaminating the ground water.
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The well was sealed by the Vasco fire and emergency personnel in the presence of government officials, who appealed to the residents not to use the water and further to refrain from cooking in close proximity of the well due to inflammable products.
Chicalim panchayat ward member Neelam Naik inspected the well on Monday morning and found that water had turned completely blue. She then took water samples and when tried to light it with fire, the water caught fire immediately thus confirming that the water was contaminated with either petroleum or naphtha products. She suspected that there could be some leakage from the main fuel pipelines of the oil company terminal passing through the area.
The panicked residents complained that water from at least six borewells and also the natural spring had been contaminated and feared that the pipeline was leaking. It could be either petrol, diesel or naphtha pipeline, the residents said.
