the goan I network
MARGAO
Saxttikars felt the brunt of Monday evening lightning and thunderstorms as taps ran dry on Tuesday on account of a major power failure at the Selaulim water treatment plant.
With the supply of water to Salcete and Mormugao from the Selaulim water project disrupted after pumping operations came to a halt due to the power failure, thousands of households had to face water scarcity. Many turned to drinking water wells to meet their requirements.
PWD Executive Engineer Srikant Gaonkar informed that pumping operations at the Selaulim plant came to a halt at around 7.30 pm on Monday when the area was hit by lightning and thunderstorm.
“At that time, only 160 MLD of water was pumped at the plant. Since then till Tuesday noon, the pumping operations could not resume as the power department was still on the job of restoring the electricity,” he said.
It was only at around 2 pm that the power supply to the plant was restored, facilitating resumption of pumping operations.
Gaonkar said that water reached Margao at around 5.15 pm on Tuesday, adding the supply to Salcete and Mormugao taluka should stabilize by late Tuesday evening.
Sanguem too
suffers brunt
The sudden thundershowers lashed Sanguem too on Monday night, disrupting electricity supply to the taluka and water supply.
While power supply to some parts of the taluka was restored by midnight due to arrangements from the Curchorem feeder, most parts of Sanguem taluka received power supply only by 3 pm on Tuesday.
According to sources, power supply was reportedly disrupted due to a fault in the transformers supplying power at the main Xelpem Power Station at Sanguem.
With the taps running dry and no provision being made to store water, people from Sanguem town and other areas were seen moving out of their homes to the nearby river and other places to get water for cooking and other domestic purposes.
Water supply was restored to Sanguem town late Tuesday evening while the adjoining areas received water supply at around 7.30 pm.
Officials of the Water Supply Department and the Electricity Department were seen stationed at the Xelpem Water Treatment and the Xelpem Power Station till the resumption of power and water supply to the affected areas.
