ASMITA POLJI

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PERNEM: With the start of the tourism season, thousands of tourists have already landed into Goa and many will follow. Are we prepared for the season with provision of all the basic necessities for the tourists as well as locals?

Scarcity of water, which is a basic need, has been haunting the whole state but the shortage is especially felt in the coastal belts.

Pernem Taluka with four major beaches -- Arambol, Morjim, Mandrem and Keri in north Goa -- sources said, are the most affected villages by water scarcity. With only 15 MLD of water supplied to the whole Taluka, around 3 MLD of water goes for each of these villages. But taking into consideration, the population and movement of tourists, the consumption of water is more in the coastal belt compared to other villages in Pernem.

People residing in coastal belt say that irregular water supply has become a daily routine and they are forced to collect water and save for two to four days for their daily consumption. Facing this situation, villagers are forced to call for private tankers for water.

The Chandel Water Treatment plant supplies 15 MLD of water to the whole Pernem Taluka which has 20 villages and one municipality. At present there are 17,488 tap connections from which around 5840 tap connections are in the coastal belt.

Also every month around 25 to 40 new connections get added but the supply of water has remained the same. Sources said that the authorities are planning for further augmentation of the existing plant at Chandel from 15 to 30 MLD but the process is yet to start. 

The water supply remains normal during the monsoon but the problem arises when the wells go dry.

With the number of shacks and hotels also on the rise, the PWD officials claim they have restricted water supply to the hotels and always give preference to local consumers.

When asked about the new plant, the PWD sources said the new plant of 30 MLD at Tuem has reached acquisition stage and this new plant will solve the major problem of water scarcity in the Mandrem constituency.

A local N Kanolkar said, “There is no fix timing for the water to flow. Sometimes it comes during the day but most of the time during early morning. Adding to it, the water comes with low pressure due to which it takes hours to fill a single bucket. So many times we complained to the PWD office Pernem but every time they say that it’s a technical issue.”

Another local said, “The PWD has changed the pipelines and now the size of the pipes is bigger. But the amount of water getting supplied is still the same. Just because the size of pipe has increased, the supply of water will not increase. Also from many years we are hearing that Mandrem constituency will be getting a new plant which will supply sufficient water to the Mandrem constituency but there is no sign of this project.”