DIVAR: The irony couldn’t be starker. Goa’s breathtakingly beautiful island on the Mandovi, obviously surrounded by water but steeped in history, with dense mangroves welcoming visitors and locals returning home, has dry taps. With water coming once in two days, “if we are lucky” as one local said.
The irony, bordering on tragic comedy, gets grimmer. They are forced to buy water from tankers, who cross the river by ferry to reach the island.
“We don’t have water to drink. We get just one hour of supply every two days, and if it doesn’t come then we are without water for four days. Now people are talking about what will happen if Mhadei river water diversion takes place, here we are already not getting water,” said Marius Fernandes, a resident of the village who is also called ‘Festakar of Goa’ for being a champion protector of traditional feasts of Goa
“For the last three days, there has been no water supply in my house. I don’t have water to even wash my hands. Water shortage has been an issue for the past few years. There are two tanks for people of Divar but no water in them,” Ajit Morajkar, a resident of the village said.
The PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, when informed by Herald about their plight, wanted a representation but “assured” to ask his department and resolve the issue.
“Divar is an island. I think there will be some issue with the pipeline. Let affected people give me a representation. I will look into it and ensure that they get an adequate supply of water,” he said.
Some of the households in the village depend on in-house wells to meet their daily water needs and those who are well off financially take the services of water tankers while the poor continue to suffer. Not all wells have safe drinking water as in most of them have high salinity levels.
Sao Mathias Village is worst affected due to the irregular supply of water by the Public Works Department. The residents are irked as they receive alternate day water supply with low pressure that hardly lasts for an hour.
“There are hardly any wells, there is no rainwater harvesting. Divar needs few tanks for water harvesting because the future is bleak. Water is a big issue here,” he added.
A section of people in the village has demanded that the Village Panchayat should not grant permission for the construction of swimming pools in the residential complexes.
A senior citizen pointed out that people residing in hilly areas particularly suffer the most as the pressure in the supply line is extremely low.
He said that during the summer season, there is an acute shortage of water in Divar as the wells dry up.
The Sarpanch of Sao Mathias, Supriya Tari admitted that supplies are insufficient which affects the majority of the villagers.
“The water supply is irregular in households and if a water pipe bursts, then we don’t get supply for several days,” Tari said.
She said that she has raised the issue with the PWD and requested them resolve the water supply issue at the earliest.
“PWD wants to have a new water tank in Divar. They have identified the site and are in the process of seeking permission from the concerned authorities, it will take time and we don’t see any immediate relief,” Tari said.
