MAPUSA
Hotels in Calangute and Candolim will soon be able to use treated sewage water from the Baga Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for gardening instead of relying on expensive tanker supplies.
Announcing the move while launching the first phase of the Calangute“Baga infrastructure works, local MLA Michael Lobo said a dedicated pipeline will carry treated water from the Baga STP all the way up to Sinquerim.
“Hotels are buying tanker water for gardening, which is both costly and unsustainable. We are laying a separate pipeline so they can use treated water instead,” Lobo said.
The project also includes major repairs to the Baga road, which had remained in bad shape for years after the sewerage work.
The road is being relaid with a double coat of hotmix, the sewerage chambers have been raised, and the footpath reconstructed. Overhead cables will now go underground below the footpath.
Locals had long complained that the poorly executed sewerage work had left the road uneven and unsafe.
“We have corrected all that. On the other side, a covered drain and a line for treated water are being laid,” Lobo added.
The MLA said a new treatment facility is being set up to ensure the discharged water is clean and safe for reuse.
“We don’t want to release treated water into the Baga river anymore,” he said.
The move comes after repeated complaints by locals and the Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) over the malfunctioning of the existing STP and the discharge of untreated effluents into the Baga river, leading to contamination.
According to Lobo, the project not only aims to safeguard the river ecosystem but also to set a precedent for the sustainable reuse of treated water along Goa’s coastal belt.
“I intend to complete the treated water pipeline up to Sinquerim within the next one year, before the end of my term,” he said.
