the goan I network
MAPUSA
Ironically, while a lot of rain water went down the drain since Thursday morning, Bardez and parts of Bicholim talukas went without PWD pipeline water due to faulty power supply to the Assonora Treatment Plant.
The entire Bardez taluka and parts of Bicholim did not get its quota of normal PWD water supply for around 12 hours.
The 33 KV power line supplying electricity to the treatment plant developed a fault and supply to the plant was cut off from Wednesday mid-night, bringing water pumping activity to a halt at the plant.
As attempts to detect the fault throughout the night were unsuccessful, the department officials decided to resume the activity on Thursday morning.
Finally, the fault was detected at around Thursday noon and power was restored to the treatment plant at around 2 pm.
PWD Executive Engineer (water division) V M Chavan said Bardez was worst affected as the normal requirement of the taluka is 105 MLD.
“We could not supply 55 MLD of water to Bardez due to the power supply problem to the plant. The fault in the power line was rectified at around 1.30 noon and electricity supply was restored only at around 2 pm,”
Chavan said.
He said the department will supply restricted water to different parts of Bardez and expected to restore normal water supply by
Friday.
In the meanwhile, whatever water was stored in the overhead tanks was supplied to different parts of the Mapusa city.
Several residents expressed surprise over taps running dry in Mapusa when it was raining so hard
outside.
“We have not got a drop of water since early morning. Isn’t it ironical that we are made to suffer for drinking water when it’s pouring outside?” asked Sarojini Naik of Duler.
Another resident of Khorlim slammed the PWD department for failing to put its act together and making people suffer even during the monsoons.
“We have heard ministers saying that they will supply water 24x7 to all the households in the State. Residents not getting water supply during the rains is another low for the PWD in Goa,” the Khorlim resident said.
The Assonora water treatment plant produces around 110 MLD of water
per day.
On several occasions, senior officials stonewalled the idea of setting up of a generator at the treatment plant due to recurring power problems.
According to the engineers, the main overhead power line would soon be pushed underground.
