Water Resources Minister Subhash Shirodkar launched with much fanfare the geo-bag initiative on Wednesday at the banks of River Sal at Khareband-Margao, the site of a stormwater nullah that carries raw sewage and wastewater from the city to the river. The WRD minister hailed the introduction of new technology and quickly added that it is a unique water purification system. However, he hastened to add that the technology could only be introduced at other nullahs that carry sewage after evaluating the costs.
Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas, who otherwise has been a fierce critic of the government, was on the same page as Shirodkar on this one, basically because he was instrumental in getting the process moving. Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat also expressed confidence about the geo-bag tech but has added a rider of costs.
The new technology uses an inflatable geo-bag tube up to two metres that act as a barrier, traps sediments, and allows only clear water to pass through, acting as a water filter. Individual geo-bag may run into a few lakhs and require a storage tank and a pumping system, but installation at multiple points would mean higher costs.
The government has identified six nullahs, including the one at Khareband, District Hospital, Comba and the Saipem Lake, to try the geo-bag technology. The question is whether plugging a handful of nullahs could solve the decades-old problem of River Sal contamination because Sal's pollution spans all along its path in villages where raw sewage is also channelled into the river.
The Margao MLA has claimed that 99 per cent of the households are already connected to the sewerage system and adds that full connectivity is just a matter of time. We don't understand the need to experiment with new technology that costs both money and time if the sewerage line plan is attaining full connectivity. What will the geo-bag technology serve if the sewerage connectivity is successful? Is this system going to run parallel? For what? And how does geo-bag discourage those discharging effluents, garbage and raw sewage already?
Why are the government and MLAs not focussing on expediting work on the sewerage line and connectivity when two sewage treatment plants are already in place? Is it the cost of a connection that is playing a spoilt sport? The fact that both the plants are under-utilised, the sewerage line is not used to capacity, and River Sal is heavily polluted tells the story of an apparent lack of intent.
Geo-bag will be a complete waste of money because it will not help in cleansing Sal of sewage, and installing this new technology at the 100-odd points all along the river where sewage is flowing is not practical. Politicos who have been swearing on the environment and cleansing Sal must address the issue holistically instead of using this piecemeal approach. The WRD must avoid trial-and-error experiments that are useless in the larger context of the problem and develop a holistic solution that involves areas beyond Margao.
