Pipeline burst worsens water supply in Canacona

Pipeline burst worsens water supply in Canacona
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, MAY 8
The already battered water supply in Canacona was further hit after a pipeline burst and cut off Chapoli dam’s water supply to the taluka’s main water treatment plant at Shrishthal, disrupting water supply to the entire taluka on Saturday.
According to PWD sources, the 20-year-old 14 km pipeline from the sump at Chapoli dam got ruptured at about 2 am on Friday near the Canacona police station, disrupting supply to the treatment plant.
Since there was no supply from the main source to the treatment plant, supply to the several areas was disrupted throughout the day, informed sources.
PWD workers were seen manually digging out the pipe from across the highway road in a bid to resume water supply to the taluka.
“We expect to replace the damaged pipe by 10 pm on Saturday and restore supply of Chapoli dam water to the treatment plant by midnight,” said Canacona PWD (water-supply) Assistant Engineer Krishnanand Velingkar.
According to sources, PWD has reportedly proposed an alternate pipeline from the sump at Chapoli dam via forestland through Khalwade, which can shorten the distance by 4 kms and also enable easier access to attend to any emergency on the pipeline.
However, the proposal is yet to find favour with the government, causing hardship to water consumers, whenever the old pipeline lying across the highway has to be repaired.
“Since this pipeline exists close to the highway, use of any heavy machinery is not possible for digging and we have to depend on manual labour, which delays the work to restore water supply,” informed a source.  
It may be recalled that residents of Khola and Agonda are already having a hard time in getting their water supply since the last three days, after some persons reportedly dumped chemicals in the Mudkud River.