Mapusa may suffer from garbage problems, traffic congestion and parking woes, but the town seems to have sorted out at least one persistent problem of the past – its erratic water supply.
At a time when many towns and villages in the State have been hit by acute water shortage, Mapusa seems to have been blessed with surplus water supply, according to PWD officials.
If a senior PWD official is to be believed, Mapusa is not expected to face water shortage as it is receiving more than its required quota of water. “Water supply will be supplied to Mapusa without any problem. That is, assuming that pumps do not break down at the Assonora Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and is constant power supply to the treatment plant,” a PWD official told Herald on condition of anonymity.
“The requirement of Mapusa city is 15.98 millions liters per Day (MLD), which includes the domestic requirement (7.51 MLD) and the commercial/industrial requirement (5.26 MLD). Mapusa receives around 18 MLD of water from Assonora reservoir. After catering to the requirement of Mapusa town, additional water is diverted to adjoining areas,” said the PWD official.
“In the past, residents of Mapusa, especially in areas located at a higher altitude like Ekta Nagar, Khorlim, Mapusa police quarters and Keniwada, used to face acute water shortage during summer. However, Mapusa began receiving sufficient water supply ever since the capacity at Assonora WTP was enhanced by 50 MLD in August 2012.”
“Mapusa has a population of around 48,000 and the PWD (Water Division 17) has issued around 8,300 water connections. Our water sources will continue to provide 18 MLD of water, which is more than sufficient for Mapusa,” the PWD official added.
Confirming that water supply had been adequate in the past two years, Prakash Dhumal, a resident of Ekta Nagar said: “In the past, we used to face acute water shortage and we were forced to rely on water tankers. But this summer, we have not faced any water shortage so far.”
The PWD official admitted that they could face some problem pumping water to the reservoirs and high-elevation areas, in the event of erratic power supply.
“However in such an eventuality, the PWD has kept the water tankers on standby to cater to the water requirement to those areas,” said the PWD official.
