PANAJI
In a major boost to the rejuvenation of two of the capital city's water bodies -- St Inez creek/nullah and Mala lake -- over 200 homes along the banks of these two vital water bodies are now connected to localised sewage treatment mechanisms which use 'vacuum technology' to overcome high water tables and lack of space to build the conventional gravity sewer network.
The fully automated vacuum sewer systems were installed by the Public Works Department (PWD) on behalf of the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) and commissioned in September this year by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
The development is expected to prevent the direct discharge of sewage into these water bodies, cited by multiple studies as a major cause for the deterioration of the two Panaji water bodies.
The St Inez creek/ nullah which flows into the Mandovi river is about 3.5 kilometres long and has a surface area of approximately 65,750 square metres. A densely populated settlement known as 'St Inez-Bandh' comprising both locals and Karnataka migrants, hugs its bank for a length of about 250 metres.
Most of the houses in this settlement (around 100), which are ground floor structures with no access to any piped sewer network and thus used to discharge their sewage directly into the creek, are now connected to the automated vacuum sewer system, IPSCDL sources said.
"The houses were cramped between the compound wall of the adjacent apartment building on one side and the creek on the other and there was
limited space available to construct the conventional gravity sewer network," an IPSCDL official said.
In Mala too around 120 houses are now connected to a similar 'automated vacuum sewer system' installed there. Here the houses which are now connected to the localised sewer system were on the banks of the Rua de Ourem creek and on the Mala-Fontainhas side of the Mala Lake, the IPSCDL official said.
