THEGOAN NETWORK
MARGAO
Even as Health Minister Vishwajit Raneis bracing to commission the Covid hospital at the South district hospital overthe weekend, a million dollar question is staring at the authorities “ how to handle around 3.40 lakh litres ofwaste water from the Covid hospital every day?
This question will come to haunt theauthorities, including the PWD and health department, as the existingunderground PWD line is lying in a damaged state and the new line has developedsome problems along the stretch passing by the district hospital even beforeits commissioning.
Goa State Infrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (GSIDC) officials say that the 500-bedded hospital will generatearound 3.40 lakh litres of waste water from the Covid hospital. Take note, thedistrict hospital has an in-house Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to treat thewaste water generated in the building. But, the crucial question that remains unansweredis whether the treated water from the STP from the Covid hospital will bedischarged in the existing damaged line or will be transported to the NavelimSTP via night soil tankers.
GSIDC officials pointed out that of the 3.40 lakh litres of waste water treatedby the hospital STP, around 80,000 litres can be utilized for flushing as wellas for gardening of the hospital premises. The question that then arises is: Howwill the authorities handle the surplus 2.50 lakh litres of treated water?
Transporting the treated waters intankers to the Navelim STP, sources said, will be a difficult and costlyproposition, given the sheer magnitude of the work at hand.
“Each tanker has an inbuilt capacity of around5000 litres. Just imagine the work at hand to transport 2.50 lakh litres ofsurplus treated sewage water with a 5000 litre capacity tanker that charges Rs300 per trip from the district hospital to the Navelim STP,” stated a GSIDCofficial.
The official further informed that thePWD, Sewerage or Sewerage Corporation will thus have to apply its mind on howto go about handling the treated waste water. This question assumessignificance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that the new line laidalong the district hospital building towards the new Collectorate building hasdeveloped some problem even before its commissioning, with officials saying theline has settled down at some places.
An official further pointed out that thePWD will have no option than to either remove the stretch of problematic lineor lay a new line via open excavation on utmost priority. Sources in the know,however, said that entire work, even if executed at top priority, will take a minimumof one year to complete.
