On November 27, a well in Matve-Dabolim was emanating a smell as the flow of petroleum contaminated the water and later the nearby areas too. A panchayat member of Chicalim filed a complaint against unknown persons in the incident.
One does not know whether it is a case of pilferage, sabotage or leakage from broken pipelines. Fortunately, no major incident or fire has occurred. The company ZIAVPL made its best efforts to track the source of the oil leak but failed to do so and finally, it was identified on Friday.
In four days, 25 tankers pumped out the contaminated water but the people are unaware as to where this water is being disposed of. A sniffer dog was flown in from the Punjab to detect the leak. In all these processes precious time was lost and the supply of petrol has been affected in Goa.
The moot question is how come the company did not have sniffer dogs of its own? The management could have procured electronic sniffers and installed leak sensor detectors at various crucial locations along the pipeline routes and routinely checked for oil leaks.
The State governments could mandate that oil companies lay the pipes in cemented trenches instead of in the soil. Though this process may be a little pricey (but not for oil companies) and time-consuming, if there is a leakage or a pipe rupture, the petroleum will not flow into the adjacent areas. Oil wells are profitable but oil in water wells is dangerous!
