the goan I network
MARGAO
The stink emanating from the contaminated water stored for irrigation around the Nuvem-Davondem belt has been abated after Salcete Mamlatdar John Fernandes ordered the release of the water, but the source of the water contamination “ the damaged sewerage chamber remains unplugged till date.
While the Salcete Mamlatdar’s action has given a temporary respite to the nearby residents from the foul odour upon directions from the District Collector, Dr Tariq Thomas, failure to plug the damaged chamber and prevent sewage from gushing out in the fields threatens to defeat the purpose of releasing.
Officials in the Mamlatdar and the Collector, besides residents fear that the situation may return back to square one for want of repair to the damaged chamber.
Sources said the district Collector Dr Tariq Thomas had told the PWD, sewerage after a meeting with Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Souza to stop the discharge of sewage water from the damaged chambers into the fields and conduct testing of water samples from the water body.
Sources in the PWD, however, pointed out that plugging the damaged chamber is not on the agenda of the sewerage officials as they sought to take refuse in the ongoing work underway in Fatorda to replace the damaged sewerage line, without realising that it may take months before the work on the project is complete in all respects.
Incidentally, TCP Minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai also shares a similar stand when he pointed out that the ageing sewerage line cannot be repaired and the only solution to the problem is to expedite work on the Rs 100 crore underground line replacement project. “The ageing line between Arlem to Sirvodem is like a damaged cycle tyre. If you repair at one place, the tube suffers damage at some other place. The only solution to the damaged chambers and overflowing sewage is to expedite work on the Rs 100 new sewerage line presently underway between Arlem to Sirvodem,” Sardesai said.
He, however, said that his office would ask the PWD, sewerage officials to find out whether repair to the damaged chamber is an answer to the perennial problem.
While sewage water from the damaged chamber gushes out into the fields day in and out, the problem of foul odour is more prevalent at this time of the year as the farmers close the gates to store water for the purpose of irrigation. Sewage water mixed with the irrigation water throw up an unbearable stink in and around the Nuvem-Davondem belt, which had forced the local MLA Wilfred D’Sa to knock the doors of the South Goa district Collector for a solution.
The government has taken up the work on the Rs 100 crore job of replacing the ageing Arlem-Sirvodem underground sewerage line as the damaged line “ laid in the 80’s and 90’s -- devastated low lying fields and water bodies along the 11-km course, passing through Ambaji, Old market, Comba, Kharebandh before connecting to the Sirvodem sewage treatment plant.
