PANAJI: The supply of raw water from Tillari to Goa has been delayed further, creating a drinking water crisis of sorts in Porvorim and Saligao constituency areas. Since the raw water from Tillari has been stopped to carry out canal repair works, the 15MLD plant in Porvorim has been shut down. Now, PWD officials said that the water treatment plant at Porvorim cannot resume operations before December 27.
This will mean that there will be a shortage of drinking water on Christmas Day as well.
Sources said that anger among Porvorim and Saligao residents has reached its peak, leading to chief minister Pramod Sawant instructing PWD principal chief engineer Uttam Parsekar to make alternative arrangements on Sunday for additional water supply in Porvorim and Saligao areas during Christmas.
Water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar had announced that repair works on Tillari will end on December 21 and water supply to Goa will resume. But at the Tillari reservoir in Maharashtra there was a glitch in the gates of the dam, which delayed the supply. Even if the supply resumes on December 25, drinking water supply cannot resume till December 27,” said a PWD official.
At present, water is supplied on alternate days to Porvorim and Saligao areas. With the Porvorim plant shut, water supply is routed from the Assonora plant, but the areas are suffering shortages as they are at the tail-end of the Assonora plant. Additional water is being pumped as a temporary arrangement from River Sal into Amthane dam and from there it is supplied to Assonora plant for treatment. “As the Porvorim plant is shut for want of raw water, the supply to Saligao too has to be rationed.
In areas like Verem, locals are faced with extreme shortage,” said the official. On Sunday a video of a woman from Verem went viral on social media where she is speaking of the hardships due to the water shortage. “All my life, since my childhood, I have lived with this water shortage in Verem. We would walk, carrying water from the nearby wells.
Now that I am married and I have come home for the vacations with my infant, and Verem is still suffering after all these years,” said the woman, whose video was shared by thousands. The Tillari water supply was shut on November 27 for maintenance work to be carried out on canals on the Goa and Maharashtra side
This will mean that there will be a shortage of drinking water on Christmas Day as well.
Sources said that anger among Porvorim and Saligao residents has reached its peak, leading to chief minister Pramod Sawant instructing PWD principal chief engineer Uttam Parsekar to make alternative arrangements on Sunday for additional water supply in Porvorim and Saligao areas during Christmas.
Water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar had announced that repair works on Tillari will end on December 21 and water supply to Goa will resume. But at the Tillari reservoir in Maharashtra there was a glitch in the gates of the dam, which delayed the supply. Even if the supply resumes on December 25, drinking water supply cannot resume till December 27,” said a PWD official.
At present, water is supplied on alternate days to Porvorim and Saligao areas. With the Porvorim plant shut, water supply is routed from the Assonora plant, but the areas are suffering shortages as they are at the tail-end of the Assonora plant. Additional water is being pumped as a temporary arrangement from River Sal into Amthane dam and from there it is supplied to Assonora plant for treatment. “As the Porvorim plant is shut for want of raw water, the supply to Saligao too has to be rationed.
In areas like Verem, locals are faced with extreme shortage,” said the official. On Sunday a video of a woman from Verem went viral on social media where she is speaking of the hardships due to the water shortage. “All my life, since my childhood, I have lived with this water shortage in Verem. We would walk, carrying water from the nearby wells.
Now that I am married and I have come home for the vacations with my infant, and Verem is still suffering after all these years,” said the woman, whose video was shared by thousands. The Tillari water supply was shut on November 27 for maintenance work to be carried out on canals on the Goa and Maharashtra side