MARGAO
Will the once picturesque Salpem lake on the border of Margao and Navelim get a fresh lease of life?
Devastated by rampant discharge of sewage and waste water flowing into the lake over the years, the Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa (SIDCGL) has put up a gate barricade at the inlet nullah to the Salpem lake near the Kudchadkar hospital to divert all the waste water into the nullah from the MMC jurisdiction into the 20 MLD sewage treatment plant at Sirvodem.
Now the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has recommended that the Water Resources Department (WRD) demarcate the lake area and carry out restoration/ beautification of the lake. In fact, GSPCB Member Secretary Dr Shamila Monteiro in her affidavit filed in the High Court stated that the restoration and beautification of the lake has not been done for many years. “Presently, there is no sluice gate and the lake drains all the water into the river Sal and gets dried up,” she stated.
The GSPCB Member Secretary has recommended that during the second crop, the treated water from the Navelim-Sirvodem STP, located adjacent to the Salpem lake, may also be utilised for the irrigation purpose.
The affidavit further stated that the SIDCGL may also explore the possibility of installation of the Phytorid bed treatment system along the nullah flowing into the Salpem lake to control the sewage flow into the lake during the monsoon season.
