Goa: Opa treatment plant may face water scarcity

PONDA: Those dependent on the new 27MLD water treatment plant at Opa, which was commissioned recently, may face water scarcity for another year.
With the new plant, water drawn from the Khandepar river has increased. However, the river may not get raw water from the Ganjem water scheme over the Mhadei river if the PWD further delays permission for road cutting from Ganjem to Usgao to lay a pipeline that would pour the water from Ganjem directly into the Khandepar river.
PWD minister Deepak Pauskar said that he has already cleared the file and chief minister Pramod Sawant has also directed PWD authorities to clear it immediately. “WRD would get the permission very soon,” he said.
For the last several years, Ganjem water had been released into a rivulet flowing to Khandepar. However, some of the water was lost due to evaporation in the summer and ground seepage. The WRD had, therefore, planned to pour the water directly into the Khandepar river by underground pipeline to avoid the loss.
“Under the project, the work for laying the pipelines from Usgao to Khandepar has been going on, but the work has been delayed as PWD is yet to give permission for the road cutting,” a source from WRD said.
During summers, the water level of the Khandepar river dips and WRD pours about 35MLD water into the river besides releasing the stocked water from the bandharas along the Khandepar and Kalay rivers, and mining pits in Codli. Around 48MLD water is released from the Selaulim dam as well.