This year, Goa was blessed with abundant rain but yet people of Bardez were forced to go without drinking water on several occasions during the monsoon. However, the focus was on the aging Assonora water treatment plant which has been grappling with issues ranging from lack of raw water to high turbidity in water drawn from Tillari. Constant power interruptions and shutdowns have also had a debilitating effect on the capacity to produce treated water at the plant leaving very little options to the engineers at the helm.
AGNELO PEREIRA takes a wide view on what ails the water supply system and what is the way ahead
On October 17, a group of angry Mapusa residents marched to the office of the assistant engineer of PWD (water division) and confronted him, giving him a taste of what to expect if water supply was not restored by evening.
The assistant engineer was not the only one who came under vicious verbal diatribe from the motley crowd on that day. The PWD minister, local MLA and the government of the day was also censured for failing to provide drinking water, a very basic need to the citizens.
The tension was apparent on the ground and such hostile confrontations over water could well set the trend in future.
As Mapusa continues to reel from the lack of clean drinking water, the prospect of an acute shortage of water in Bardez has put the residents on tenterhooks.
From Mapusa to Porvorim and Saligao to Calangute, time and again large areas of Bardez face water shortage even as poor water management and inefficient planning has further led to drying taps.
This monsoon, despite the record rainfall, several parts of Bardez experienced irregular water and muddy water supply.
Even key festivals have not been spared.
While last year the taluka faced major water crisis during the Ganesh Chaturthi due to failure of water pumps at the Assonora water treatment plant, this year people had to go without water during Dussehra.
Infra not in tune
with demand
The demand for drinking water has increased manifold but the infrastructure to produce treated water has failed to keep pace.
Several high-rise buildings and small and big projects have come up in Bardez, which includes the popular Candolim-Calangute-Baga coastal circuit but the water treatment plant in Assonora still produces the same quantity of treated water it did decades back.
The Assonora water treatment facility has three plants with varying capacity of 12 mld, 30 mld and 50 mld to treat water.
Although the capacity of producing treated water from all three plants is 92 mld, the total treated water varies from 115 to 120 mld.
“We are actually overloading the plant to produce 30 mld extra,” an official at the treatment plant informed.
While Calangute, Siolim and Tivim requires 14 mld of water each, Mapusa requires highest quantity of water at 20 mld followed by Porvorim (18 mld) and Aldona (17 mld).
Interestingly, the 12 mld plant was constructed way back in 1967 while the 30 mld plant was set up in 1993. The 50 mld plant was built in 2009.
The 12 mld plant is being serviced by three filter water pumps (two running, one on standby) while the 30 mld plant is serviced by four filter pumps (two running, two on standby).
The 50 mld plant is serviced by three filter pumps (two running, one on standby).
Last year, in mid-September, two filter water pumps at one of the treatment plants got burnt rendering the plant inactive. Most areas in Bardez had to go without water for several days until the pumps were repaired. “The machinery in the plant has to be regularly serviced. Filter media has to be replaced after every three years. If this routine maintenance does not happen then the plant is bound to collapse,” a senior PWD official said.
Power outages affect production
Frequent power interruptions, shutdowns and low voltage are the biggest headaches for the staff manning the treatment plant.
Apart from the normal power shutdowns for maintenance, the unannounced power cuts often leads to disruption of pumping work at the plants which has a ripple effect on water supply.
Several areas in Mapusa and Porvorim had to go without water in the first week of October on account of long duration of power interruptions at the plant.
“Interruption plus shutdowns is hell for us. A power failure of even five minutes takes a toll on the operation of the plant as the whole system gets disturbed. The heavy duty water pumps cannot be re-started immediately after power is restored. We need to calibrate the operation of the pump,” said Rumil Baretto, Executive Engineer, PWD (water division).
To do away with the vagaries of nature, the power department had laid an underground cable to supply power to the plant. But the cable soon developed a fault and the connection had to be re-routed from overhead lines.
Suggestion to set up a generator at the treatment plant was shot down in the past by senior PWD officials stating that it was not a viable option on account of high cost factor.
Erratic water distribution
Man-made problems like poor management of water distribution network have also contributed to irregular supply with some areas getting water for 24 hours while others barely getting supply for two hours. In some places supply was provided every alternate day.
There are allegations against PWD staff responsible to monitor pipeline valves that they do so under active influence of powers to be and for a consideration.
“At several places it’s a man-made problem. Distribution of water is not happening properly. If water tankers come to the pumping house for water in order to supply it to commercial establishments then common man is bound to suffer,” said Rohan Khaunte, former revenue minister and Porvorim MLA.
Inadequate raw
water supply
On several occasions supply of treated water has been affected due to shortage of raw water at the plant.
Water from Tillari is the main source of raw water for the Assonora water treatment plant. But whenever the water from Tillari is cut off for various reasons, the plant draws raw water either from Amtanem dam or Padocem or Assonora River.
The Tillari canal had breached at Kudase village, in Dodamarg in November last year cutting off supply of raw water to Assonora plant.
This had led to disruption of water supply to various parts of Bardez with residents then raising a hue and cry over scarcity of drinking water.
Incidentally, taps went dry in Mapusa and other areas in Bardez as recently as in the second week of October after Water Resources department suddenly stopped supply of raw water from Amtanem dam to Assonora plant.
The WRD explanation for the stoppage was that it needed to preserve the water for irrigation purpose.
“There has to be sensitivity to people’s problem. You cannot suddenly stop water from Amtanem dam and say we need water for irrigation. They (WRD) should ensure we get sufficient raw water,” a senior PWD official said requesting anonymity.
For the last two months the Assonora plant had to depend on Amtanem dam and other sources for raw water as turbidity of Tillari water was very high.
Several areas in Bardez had to face restricted water supply in July due to high turbidity level in water received from Tillari.
Lack of coordination
The PWD officials were all at sea when the water resources department suddenly cut off supply of raw water from Amtanem dam to Assonora treatment plant on October 14.
Senior officials of the PWD started making frantic calls and finally on the intervention of the WRD Minister, WRD agreed to release 50 per cent of supply to the plant. But by then the damage was already done as Mapusa and several areas in Bardez received truncated supply for next three days.
The incident clearly indicates lack of coordination between the two key departments responsible to ensure drinking water to people in Bardez.
“Ideally, the supply of raw water and treated water should have been with one department. I think it’s only in Goa that we have two different departments that are responsible to supervise two arms of water supply. In such circumstances, taking administrative decisions create a lot of hassle,” a retired senior engineer with the PWD said.
Water Resources Minister, Filipe Neri Rodrigues, however, denied any differences with the PWD.
He said his department could not supply raw water continuously to Assonora plant as the dam water has to be preserved for future exigencies. “Both WRD and PWD are working in tandem. There is excellent coordination among our departments,” Rodrigues said.
