MARGAO
It may sound strange, but it’s true”of the three overhead water tanks built nearly a decade ago in the coastal villages of Carmona, Orlim, and Varca, only the one at Carmona has been made operational.
The reason? According to PWD officials, the overhead tanks at Orlim and Varca have not been used because they do not receive enough water through the existing pipeline network.
That’s not all. Almost ten years after the tanks in Orlim and Varca were built in 2016, the PWD’s water supply office now says it is still looking for land to build a sump and pumping station.
RTI information provided by the Assistant Engineer of the PWD water supply department confirms that the existing pipeline pressure is too low to fill the tanks at Orlim and Varca.
It is unclear why the PWD did not plan for land acquisition earlier, especially since the tanks were meant to improve water supply in these villages.
The RTI reply states that the overhead tank at Carmona, with a 300m³ capacity and built in 2010, is already operational. However, the tanks at Orlim (500m³) and Varca (1,000m³), both built in 2016, remain unused due to low water pressure and the lack of land for a sump and pumping station.
Armed with this information, leaders of the Benaulim Congress Block Committee on Saturday questioned Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas about whether he had taken any steps in the last two years to make the Orlim and Varca tanks operational.
Block Committee President Keith Gracias, along with Solan Furtado and others, urged the government to make use of these facilities, especially as the state faces water shortages.
“The overhead tanks at Orlim and Varca could have helped meet the water needs of villagers if they had been commissioned along with the sump and pumping station. We hope the government will make use of this infrastructure, built with taxpayers’ money,” Keith said.
