I would like to bring to your notice the good work done by the Sarpanch of Assolna Xavier Almeida in the field of conservation of water.
In Assolna we have our water bodies namely the Patchea bhand and modlea toddem. These water bodies were used by our ancestors to store rain water and later use it for agriculture and drinking water needs. It also helped in keeping the environment cool and to keep away the ingress of salt water from the Sal River into the ground water table.
The modlea todem derives its name from the community of dhobis who lived on the bank of the river and used the lake water to wash the clothes. Since the start of Seraulim water dam, the villagers had started using the dam water through pipe lines and slowly the water bodies were left neglected.
Today nobody knows about these water bodies nor anybody cares for these bodies. Due to lack of interest from the villagers the WRD also doesn’t care to maintain the bodies.
But thanks to the Sarpanch Xavier Almeida, who took lot of interest, managed to convince the WRD to restart work towards conservation of water through these water bodies. This water will help us in lot of ways and in case of some problem with the Seraulim dam still our wells will have enough water to survive the summer.
Instead of importing Portuguese technology to meet the demand of drinking water if only our PWD minister understands the importance of these type of water bodies in each village and works towards improving them, then each village will become self sustainable and will solve most of the problems for water.
It is equally important for every person in a village to understand the worth of these water bodies and to rise up to protect or maintain them.
