Every year as the summer heat starts to rise, alarm bells start to ring in Goa as water levels in most of the dams start to drop by more than 50%. Unfortunately no counter measures are taken by the Water Resources Department (WRD) to reduce the high evaporation losses caused by high temperatures. As a result millions of litres of drinking water are lost, causing hardship to the people of Goa who are already experiencing acute water shortage all the year round. While there are several methods to reduce evaporation losses, one of the most effective and affordable means was found to be the spraying of cetyl alcohol over the lakes which acts as a thin protective film on the water surface and reduces evaporation losses by upto 40%-50%. This experiment was tried and proved successful in Mumbai lakes some years ago. It is hoped that the WRD will also experiment and innovate in similar manner. We cannot afford to sit and watch.
