'Hotels release sewage into Baga river'

BAGABagaBaga With the Calangute panchayat now going ahead with a sewerage treatment plant (STP) on the south bank of the river, and once all the hundreds of resorts in Calangute are connected to the STP, then all the sewerage generated in the tourist hot-spot will find its way into the river, after it is treated at the STP.A new retaining wall is also being constructed alongside the river to prevent land erosion.While everybody welcomes the planned STP because it will reduce the problem of contamination of the ground water table in Calangute, not much thought has gone into the effect it will have on the Baga river which still teems with marine life.Many locals feel it will turn into something like the St Inez nullah in Panaji which was also once a clean river but is now full of sewerage sludge from the sewerage treatment plant at Tonca."All the hotels on the Arpora side are dumping their sewerage into the river," says Donna Fernandes, a local activist in Baga. A member of the church-led council for social justice and peace and also of the Calangue parish 'Social Action Team', Donna has been involved in local environmental issues for years."Because of the sewerage, the water has been contaminated and it's stinking. Even the salt pans have stopped because the salt made out of that water would stink," said Donna Fernandes. She's hoping "Something good" comes out of the STP. Desmond Oliveira, member of the Nagoa-Arpora citizens forum, said several resorts discharge untreated sewerage directly into the river. "We've been going and shouting at them all the time and some of them have stopped discharging the sewerage and have built their own soak pits. But some of the big resorts on the Arpora side of the river are definitely discharging their sewerage into the river," he said.Oliveira also said that since the river is beyond the domain of the village panchayats, they turn a Nelson's eye to the discharge of sewerage and other waste into the river, blaming it all on the CRZ management authority, which only issues stern warnings to the violators.Donna Fernandes feels the village panchayats cannot wash their hands off the issue. "Who issues the licenses to the hotels and resorts? The panchayat. They all know about the do's and don't's. They should ask the hotels to rectify this problem or cancel their licenses. They should be very strict," she said.Besides the sewerage, Donna points out that the river is also being polluted because of the diesel and petrol discharged into it by a large number of water-sports and fishing boats which anchor at the various ramps in the river. "The fish which we used to find here is gone. The taste is different because of the pollution caused by petrol," she said.