Team Herald
PANJIM: The Water Resources Department (WRD) on Wednesday claimed it is meeting the daily need of 160 MLD water to the Public Works Department (PWD) for supply of drinking water to the public.
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WRD Chief Engineer Pramod Badami said, “PWD needs about 160 MLD raw water daily so the entire water quantity requirement is being supplied to them from different sources including from Mhadei River, mining pits, Salaulim dam etc.”
It is pertinent to note that after receiving the supply of raw water from WRD, the PWD treats it before supplying the treated water for drinking purposes to the public. When Team O Heraldo visited the office of PWD Principal Chief Engineer Uttam Parsekar to find out as to why the State was facing shortage of drinking water supply, if the WRD is supplying the required quantum of water on a daily basis, he refused to speak and instead asked the Team to question PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on this subject.
Badami claimed there is ‘sufficient’ water in the State’s reservoirs to meet the drinking water requirement for the next 45 days.
“All dams have sufficient water that will last for almost 45 days from today to supply for both drinking water and for the purpose of irrigation in the state. The pre-monsoon showers are expected by May-end and there is nothing to worry,” he said.
The WRD chief engineer informed that the water level in Salaulim dam, which is the State’s biggest reservoir presently is 28.28 per cent and it is sufficient to supply drinking water for next 60 days. Salaulim dam caters to entire Salcete and Mormugao talukas.
The present storage level in the Anjunem dam, which cater to of parts Sankhali and part of Bicholim talukas is 14.61 per cent, however despite it being dipped the WRD chief engineer said that it is more than enough to meet the requirement over the next 45 days.
Amthane dam’s current water level is 58.97 per cent which will suffice for next 45 days while the inter-State Tillari irrigation dam’s storage level is around 30 per cent and according to WRD, this is sufficient to supply drinking water for up to July. Amthane and Tillari irrigation dams together caters to Pernem, Bardez and parts of Bicholim taluka.
The level of Panchawadi dam is down at 10.77 per cent which will last for supply for next 30 days. This dam fulfils the needs of Shiroda constituency.
The current storage level of the Chapoli dam which supplies water to Canacona taluka is 47.36 per cent, which is more than sufficient up to the onset of the monsoon and the level Gaunem dam, whose water is used only for the purpose of irrigation is 43.27 per cent.
The WRD chief engineer said that the Mopa International Airport is being supplied 5 MLD of raw water directly by the WRD from the Tillari irrigation canal and denied that it is affecting the supply to the public for drinking through the PWD.
