Canaconkars turn to dug up pits to meet potable water demands

CANACONA, MAY 30
Old habits die-hard! No matter how best our needs are met by modern facilities, but there are still people who find satisfaction living by their own conventional methods.
One may not believe, but in spite of getting their potable water needs through tankers and tap supply lines, residents in different localities of Canacona still prefer to meet their potable water demands for consumption like cooking and drinking drawn especially from dug out pits in dried up river beds.
Such practices are still prevalent at Gaondongrim, Cotigao, Poinguinim, besides some areas of Agonda, Khola, Shristhal and Loliem-Polem in Canacona taluka.
Interestingly, the hype for water drawn from pits, especially dug out in the already dried up rivulet beds is said to be clean, dirt-free, purity and taste, then what you get through supply lines or supplied through water tankers.
If sources are to be believed, many traditional residents believes that government agency supplied water is artificially treated with chemicals loosing its originality and taste, whereas one gets fresh groundwater from pits dug in river beds.
“The tanker-supplied or tap water smells and even carries foreign objects in its contents especially in April-May, so we prefer only house wells or river pits drawn water for consumption and cooking,” said a resident of Chiplem-Poinguinim.
“But most wells gets dried up during these months and hence we had dug pits in dried up river beds,” added the resident.
Sources informed that in some areas, each families living nearby to river banks maintains individual pits to meet their water needs as and when requires.
Sidharth Gaondongrikar, living nearby to a rivulet bank said: “This is our practice since many years. Even though we get our water needs regularly from tankers which we use for all other purpose, we use only river pit water for consumption and cooking.”
In some areas, people turn to river pits water as soon as their house wells and simultaneously nearby rivulets go dry beginning March-end or April.
Locals informed that except for washing clothes and other needs, they hardly depend on water intermittently supplied through tankers in their areas for consumption and cooking.
Rekha Tawadkar from Cotigao said: “Normally in our area, we meet our potable water demand from our house wells, but when wells go dry during April-May, most of our households dig individual pits in dried-up river beds to draw water for consumption.”