MARGAO
A bright sunny weather accompanied by a dry spell must have helped stop rain water infiltration into Margao’s underground sewage line. And, so has the sewage manholes stopped spewing out sewage mixed with rain water along the city roads and on the pavement of the Margao Municipal building for the moment.
A visit to a couple of sewage manholes and the chamber on the MMC building footpath has revealed that they are all fixed with concrete mixture to stop them from resembling water fountains.
Inquiries by The Goan with sewerage officials have further revealed that the two Sewerage Treatment Plants STPs at the Sirvodem STP complex are running to capacity. Both the 6.75MLD STP and the 20MLD plant are running to their respective capacities, indicating that though the manholes no more resemble water fountains, infiltration into the underground sewage line might not have stopped, especially along the low-lying areas of the city.
A host of old and unanswered questions, however, may come back to haunt the government and the PWD authorities, including the moot question “ how would the government go about the work of testing the underground sewage line to detect the points of rain water infiltration and plug the infiltration.
Or, whether this crucial question will be relegated to the backburner once the monsoons retreat and the same old question comes back to the fore during the next monsoons as has been in the past.
PWD officials in private say the department, no doubt, is in charge of the upkeep and maintenance of the underground line, but the problem affecting the Margao underground line is not a maintenance problem but an issue that needs to be addressed by testing the line to find out the water infiltration points and plugging the same.
“The PWD rushes to unclog the sewage chambers in instances when the sewage gushes out due to the blockage. But, the Margao underground sewage line is in need of an inspection to find out how the rain water infiltrates into the underground line, resulting in backwater flow through the manholes and sewage chambers”, remarked an official in the know.
The official added: “PWD officials in the past had called for a thorough inspection of the underground line to find out whether the rain water infiltrates into the line though the joints at the chambers or whether the underground line has settled at some places because of the soil conditions or the topography of the area, especially along the stretches where the line is passing through low lying areas”.
In fact, an official further maintained that the underground sewerage line executed by the contractors engaged by the Sewage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL) is handed over to the PWD after completion of the work, without confirming whether the work has been executed as per the specifications.
“There’s a misconception in the minds of the public that the PWD is responsible for the overflowing sewage manholes and chambers and the backflow of water. Take note, the underground project is being executed by the SIDCGL through contractors. Contractors who had executed the work on the underground line should be directed to check the line and plug the water infiltration points”, remarked a retired PWD official.
Even as both the STPs have been found running to their respective capacities, the retired official said the PWD and the SIDCGL should find out how come the two plants are running to their capacities when it has stopped raining or whether water infiltration is taking place at some stretches.
“PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral should order a probe into the rain water infiltration into the underground sewerage line no sooner the monsoons retreat so that the problem of overflowing sewage manholes and chambers is capped once and for all”, the official added.
