GUILHERME ALMEIDA
gilu@herald-goa.com
When the Selaulim water pipeline was not even a pipedream, the old fashioned wells, across Margao were the source of potable water to the city
But, unplanned development and haphazard construction activity have virtually left these wells devastated with sewage water contamination, making the water unfit for human consumption. Wells in the vicinity of the Sonsodo waste dumping site have met a similar fate with the leachate flowing from the site contaminating the underground water.
In fact, water and sewage infrastructure have never kept pace with the unplanned development of Margao and Fatorda in the last two decades. While huge mega housing complexes mushroomed across the city, city planners have ignored the sewage infrastructure development. Otherwise just consider this. Though work on Margao’s ambitious sewage project was launched in the mid 80’s, vast areas of the city still remains disconnected from the underground line, even three decades later.
The underground sewage line in the city’s northern area has given way, contaminating the wells in the vicinity. Even then, nothing stops city planners and politicians from liberally issuing developmental permissions and licenses in city’s low lying areas of Madel, Sirvodem, Khareband and Colmorod before they were connected to Phase I of the ambitious sewage project.
Incidentally, the main problem plaguing the city’s water supply is the ageing distribution lines. While Margao’s water requirements is met by the Selaulim water pipeline – considered South Goa’s life line – the old distribution lines belong to the Portuguese era. While the PWD has embarked on an exercise to replace the ageing water distribution lines in the Comba area – hit by water shortages during monsoon – many areas around Aquem, Pajifond, Malbhat, Borda is still fed by the old and worn out lines. This became evident recently when sewage water got mixed with tap water at the Cine Lata area, primary because of an ageing distribution line. Highly placed sources in the PWD attributed the water problem faced by the city to the distribution network, especially the worn out underground distribution lines.
Meanwhile the city caught between promises and plans:
Promises: The Executive Engineer, Prasad Fatarpekar said: “We are in the process of replacing the ageing distribution lines in phases. The distribution lines were laid during the Portuguese era and are in the process of being phased out”.
Plans: A senior PWD official felt that while the government is laying a parallel line from Seualim to Margao under the JICA project to ensure that water is made available to south Goa 24×7, the ageing distribution lines ought to be replaced on top priority to avoid disruptions.
The Commercial Capital’s total water requirement is put at around 15 Million Litres a Day (MLD), which is met entirely by the Selaulim water project. The city has an elaborate network of overhead water reservoirs, including a 10,000 cubic meter master balancing reservoir at Gogol, a 5000 cubic meter reservoir at Monte Hill, besides half a dozen overhead tanks with 800 cubic meter capacity.
