Water woes in lands of Valvanti, gushing Mhadei-ToI

Water woes in lands of Valvanti, gushing Mhadei Rajendra P Kerkar, TNN | May 11, 2013, 02.19 AM IST KERI: While government authorities claim there is enough water being supplied to Sattari and Bicholim, villagers in several parts of the two talukas say they have to struggle to get drinking water. This, they add, despite the Mhadei river retaining a good flow even in this peak summer month. Rajesh Gaonkar, a panch in Sattari's Khotode village panchayat, says many villagers have been complaining that they are "not receiving enough drinking water". While the PWD is supplying villagers of Malpon-Dhangarwada, Harijanwada-Gawane and Shelop-Khurd with water through tankers, villagers of Shiranguli and Assode are facing a crisis, he added. "We have requested the government to complete the balance work on the 600 m pipeline at the earliest so that this issue can be solved at the earliest," said Gaonkar. Prashant Desai, a panch in the Bhironda village panchayat told TOI, "Though Goa's lifeline, the Mhadei (aka Mandovi), flows through our village, we have been struggling for potable water for the last 3-4years." Pointing out that the chief minister recently sanctioned over 4 crore for a 1 MLD water treatment plant at Bhom-Padeli to cater to the needs of the panchayat's villages, he hoped the plant's commissioning would solve the water woes. Explaining how the PWD in Valpoi is handling water shortage issues in Sattari, junior engineer B S Talicooty said, "There are four water tankers put into service to supply water wherever there is an issue. Once the villagers bring their water problems to our notice we make attempts to solve the issues." D K Shet, assistant engineer, PWD (water), Valpoi, added, "We are aware about the water problems in the taluka and efforts are under way to solve them." In Bicholim's Savardhat-Latambarcem, 50-year-old Baby Tukaram Kokre says, "We get very limited water supply, so we're forced to stock up." Assistant engineer Prakash Surlikar explained with an example how the department tackles water issues in Bicholim: "On May 9, residents of Tisk-Karapur complained about a water supply problem. We immediately put two hired tankers into service to meet the needs." Sattari and Bicholim talukas receive water from the Dabos, Assonora, Podocem and Sanquelim water treatment plants. The plants draw water mostly from the Valvanti and Mhadei rivers, though the Assonora plant draws raw water from the Tillari canal and Amthane dam and 20 MLD of treated water from the Podocem plant. The Sanquelim and Podocem plants provide water to some areas of Bicholim, Sattari and Bardez and are dependant on the water level of the Anjunem dam in Keri. The area of the Anjunem dam reservoir is 2.325 sq km. Technical assistant Dilip Gaonkar says, "There is no need to worry as the dam has sufficient water. There is presently 860 hecto meter of water in the reservoir, well enough to meet the requirement of the season." Ironically, despite Poriem having the Podocem plant, villagers of Gholwada have to queue up anxiously for the tankers that supply water. In Nagve, the dhangar settlement has to struggle much to get drinking water. Dilip Dhavlikar, PWD executive engineer holding the charge of Sattari and Bicholim talukas besides Ponda says, "Our officials are doing their best to supply drinking water to consumers. In those areas where piped water is not available, we supply water through tankers." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Water-woes-in-lands-of-Valvanti-gushing-Mhadei/articleshow/19995388.cms