It is learnt that the Water Resource Department, Agriculture Department, PWD (Water Supply) department and other organisations cannot co-operate with each other and work closely to harvest this water. This leaves the residents of the region with parched lips and agriculturists with withered crop due to the scarcity of the precious resource.
The Chapoli dam meets the water requirements of the people of the Canacona urban area and adjoining regions but is not able to meet the needs of the entire taluka. The PWD has implemented a number of Rural Water Supply Schemes (RWSS) that are also barely able to fulfil the needs of the people.
In many instances, it was found that the PWD pumped water directly from streams, ponds and lakes without treating it. This naturally contaminated water is high in turbidity and is pumped directly to consumers.
According to a Herald report dated 16-9-2007 under the caption ‘Canacona drinks polluted water’, the High Court Judges in Panjim took it up suo moto and the PWD were held responsible.
The PWD agreed to the claims made saying that in some instances the water is turbid due to the frequent breakage of pipelines and also assured that they would rectify the same. They added that measures would be taken to supply not only Canacona, but the entire state of Goa with clean water.
After the assurance given by the PWD to the High Court 7 years ago, the situation still remains the same. There has been no improvement in the quality and quantity of PWD piped water pumped out to people.
It is common to see PWD tankers at residents’ doorsteps supplying them with water at a public cost even during the monsoon season. There are many dykes (bandharas) constructed at various places but they aren’t properly maintained. In some instances, the wooden planks working as sluice gates are stolen which causes a malfunction in the process and the water stored to be harvested gets washed out into the sea.
There is a dyke at Ordhofond, Canacona on the river bed where WRD personnel maintain the sluice gate. From here, the PWD pumps water and following the filtration process, it is supplied to consumers at Bhatpal and Poinguinim.
However, every year, due to a lackadaisical attitude, the WRD fail to keep the sluice gates closed and after the monsoon, the water flows into the Arabian Sea. It is also learnt that every year, consumers in this region complain about the lack of water but by the time the PWD finds out the issue and pumps water, the catchment area runs dry in a few hours. PWD personnel have informed the Herald that they send reminders to WRD workers to keep the sluice gates shut, but they fail to adhere to these requests and at the end of the day, the consumers are the worst sufferers.
