MAPUSA
While Mapusa continues to face irregular drinking water supply, the State government has admitted that there has been a problem with the pumps installed at the Assonora water treatment plant and plans were afoot to replace them in a phased manner.
Mapusa has been facing irregular supply of PWD water for nearly a month now and the situation is far from being resolved.
The PWD engineers were pointing fingers at the Assonora plant as the water pumped from the treatment plant was not enough for distribution in Mapusa.
“It is not frequent but there have been occasional failures of the pumps at the Assonora water treatment plant due to wear and tear. Maintenance repairs are timely carried out to keep the pumps in running condition,” said PWD Minister, Nilesh Cabral.
The PWD has incurred a whopping Rs 5.07 crores expenditure on the upkeep of the mechanical equipment at the plant in the last five years.
The PWD Minister provided the information in a written reply to questions raised by Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira in the recently concluded Goa Legislative Assembly.
Cabral also informed that the pumps would be gradually replaced so that they can function to its optimum level.
“The existing pumps would be replaced in a phased manner over a period of time. The estimates for the same are under preparation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mapusa continues to reel under irregular water supply with the problem at the Assonora plant yet to be solved.
PWD officials are releasing water on alternate days to pacify agitated residents in various parts of the town.
“The issue at the Assonora plant has not been resolved and is expected to take some more days. Till then there will be a problem of supply in Mapusa,” an engineer in the know informed.
The Assonora water treatment facility has three plants with varying capacities 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 required 14 mld of water each, Mapusa required the 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.
