JAY JOSHI
The water shortage crisis that had been plaguing areas of Bardez, Panaji and Ponda talukas finally showed some signs of resolution on Wednesday. However, the tough situation brought out a whole new side of Goans who stood up to help each other in a time of need. While the government authorities struggled to deliver water in areas affected by the crisis, people themselves found ways to make water available to as many households as possible. When Goa reeled from water crisis, a sea of humanity rose to help overcome the challenge.
After water pipelines broke down, people turned to old streams and wells that were the traditional sources of water supply during the old days. Many good Samaritans opened up their own wells for use of the community.
We have a well, and we are supplying water to the people of our vicinity,” informed Rajesh Naik from Tivrem, Ponda. “We have installed a pump at our well. Apart from this, we are also making efforts to rid people of long journeys they have to make for water. We have designated a point where everyone comes with their containers and cans, and we take water to those points,” Naik stated. “Secondly, there are also many patients, elderly people, and women who have just delivered babies. In order to help them, I personally take containers of water to them in my own rickshaw,” he added. Naik stated that many youths in the village are helping him in his endeavour. They have been able to cover an estimated 100 to houses in the area, significantly limiting the damage caused by water crisis to their area.
However, Sneha Nayak, also a resident of Tivrem, noted that the water crisis has highlighted the issues of pollution and neglect of traditional water bodies in the
village. “There were many wells in the village, but very few are now operational. Most wells have been polluted ovwing to construction activity and rise of septic tanks,” said Nayak. “Additionally, we found that water-level in our own well has significantly reduced, and the well has been contaminated. Further on, it is difficult to get labour to clean the well, and it is quite expensive too,” she said. Similarly, the village of St Estevam had received a visit from only one government water tanker till Wednesday afternoon, but the community was battling the situation without waiting for government help. “We hired two vehicles and loaded a 1000 litre tank on each of them. These tanks were then filled with water from wells and it was supplied door to door,” informed Chiara Gomes, the deputy sarpanch of St Estevam. This initiative was supplying six out of seven wards of the village while one ward was availing a private tanker.
Such ‘grassroot’ supply mechanism also came to the rescue of the citizens in the state’s capital city of Panaji. Even as authorities worked to fix the problem at their own end, citizens such as Sahil Kamat, worked alongside the elected representatives to ease the water shortage. “The citizens and the counsellor of my ward came together to find a solution on the issue,” informed Kamat, who is also in the business of water tankers. “Apart from supplying water from the tanker, we also opened our own well. While I donated water, other people donated a car, a tank, and a motor. Using this mechanism, we were able to supply Mala and surrounding areas with water,” said Kamat. The tank could hold around 1000 liters of water, and a group of youth made around 15 trips in a day to supply water to the neighbourhood.
At the time of writing this article, repairs to the water pipeline supplying Tiswadi and Bardez had been completed while the one supplying Ponda were still pending. The water shortage that tested the resolve and resilience of Goans was almost over, but while it existed, the adage ‘adversity brings out the best in a man’ was indeed proved right.
