VASCO: Vasco’s raw sewage has been flowing into the sea since last few days due to some technical failure in the PWD’s sewerage plant at Katem Baina.
According to reports, the Vasco sewage treatment plant (14 MLD capacity) has 12 motors attached to aeration unit. However, only four motors were handling the load of operations as others out of order since last several months.
PWD sewerage department officials have confirmed that out of the four motors that are operational, two have been sent for repairs and the load of operation was on the remaining two motors.
However, on Wednesday due to the failure in fuse supplying power to the plant, operations at the plant could not be undertaken on Thursday as a result all the raw untreated sewage of Vasco started flowing into the Arabian sea, posing serious threat to marine environment.
“Yes, the operation at the plant was affected due to failure in fuse. However, we will soon rectify the problem and will start using the plant. Also, we had only four useable motors out of which two developed some technical fault and we had sent the defunct motors for repairs. They are expected to reach to us shortly,” said a senior PWD sewerage department officer.
Meanwhile, raising their serious concerns over the release of raw untreated sewage into the sea, the locals from Katem Baina have demanded action against the PWD officials for polluting the environment.
They said that they have noticed similar situation of raw untreated sewage flowing into the sea, however despite of repeated complaints, PWD sewerage department officials have done nothing to improve the situation for reasons best known to them.
“This s not the first time that raw sewage has been left to flow down into the sea, as in past on many occasions, we have seen black water is allowed to flow into the sea. Many fishermen have even abandoned the southern end of Baina shore as the whole area smells foul all the time. We demand stringent action against the PWD officials for polluting environment. If no action is taken, they would be freely polluting the sea,” said Rockky D’Silva, a Baina resident.
Raising similar concerns, the local residents from Katem Baina have also urged Goa Pollution Control Board to take cognizance of the issue and hold site inspection to ascertain the damage done to the environment by the PWD sewerage department.
