Power outages at Selaulim hit water supply in South Goa

MARGAO: Frequent power outages in South Goa during the last few days have adversely affected water pumping operations at the Selaulim water treatment plant, leading to restricted and lesser quantity of water being supplied through its distribution network to the entire South Goa district.
Sources said that severe disruptions in power supply, coupled with low voltage of power has led to reduction in the processing capacity of the plant from around 215 mld to around 130 mld-less than the design capacity of the plant.
The Selaulim water treatment plant supplies potable water to most parts of South Goa, including Salcete, Mormugao, Quepem and Sanguem talukas.
Sources said that it was the domestic consumers who were largely hit by the restricted water supply from the Selaulim treatment plant as the water resources department (WRD) has arrangements in place to supply raw water through irrigation canals and dedicated water pipelines for Verna industrial estate and Zuari Industries in Sancoale.
PWD superintending engineer S R Paranjape said that chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday convened a meeting of senior officials of the electricity department and the PWD to work out a solution to address the issue.
The chief minister, it is learnt, has instructed the electricity department to work out a plan for underground cabling of electricity lines supplying power to all the water treatment plants in the state. Parrikar, sources privy to the meeting disclosed, instructed the electricity department to work out the plans and prepare estimates for the work by June so that the work on the project could be taken up soon after the monsoon.
The Selaulim dam's design capacity for waterprocessing is 160 mld, which was further increased to 190 mld by installing more number of pumps. The capacity was further increased by 25 mld recently by replacing two pumps with high powered ones.
Sources said that Mormugao taluka, being at the tail end of the water supply network, has been severely hit owing to the restricted water supply from the Selaulim plant. Mormugao which used to receive 55 mld water now gets a mere 25-30 mld water, while the supply to Salcete has come down from the usual 70 mld to 35 mld, sources said.
"Sudden surges in power voltage have also caused damage to the electrical equipment of the water treatment plant," Paranjape said.
In Margao, high altitude locations like Moti Dongor, Chandrawado in Fatorda, and some parts of Davorlim and Navelim, have been most affected in Salcete during the last three days, sources said.
PWD sources said that the situation was returning to normal but stressed that much would depend on the quality of power supply.