All three water pumps at Assonora break down

MAPUSA: Water scarcity continues to trouble people even during the festive season with several parts of Bardez taluka reeling under severe water shortage over the last five days due to a technical fault at the 50 MLD water treatment plant at Assonora.

A similar situation prevailed in the villages of Verem and Reis magos, wherein villagers did not receive water for the last five days. Calangute, Aldona and Anjuna were also not spared. With the water requirement of Bardez estimated at around 110 MLD, currently households receive only 75-80 MLD from the treatment plant.

While most taps in Bardez have run dry right from the commencement of Ganesh Chaturthi, some villages are receiving water but only for a few hours. Mapusa municipal councillor Raj Singh Rane confirmed that residents of Mapusa were facing severe water problems for the last four to five days. “This is a serious criminal offence on the part of the public works department (PWD), to deny the people of this taluka a basic necessity like water during the festive season,” he said.

PWD superintendent engineer Ulhas Kerkar told TOI that there is water shortage as all three pumps of the 50 MLD plant are out of order. “A technical fault resulted in the damage to the two running pumps of the water treatment plant at Assonora as these pumps were running continuously for 24 hours,” Kerkar said.

“The two big pumps have been sent for repairs—one to Ahmedabad and the other to Bengaluru—while the third is at a workshop for maintenance,” he added.

Once the two pumps are brought back, the department hopes to restore water supply latest by Friday or Saturday. The pump at the workshop is expected by Tuesday night. After it arrives, an additional 20 MLD water will also be released latest by Wednesday.

“We assure the people that total water supply will be released to all households in the taluka latest by Friday or Saturday,” Kerkar said.

Rane said, “The issue with water supplied by tankers is that it cannot be stored on the third floor or fourth floor. The government should have made some alternative arrangements considering the fact that this is festival time and water is a necessity,” Rane said.