The wait leaves villages in North Goa high and dry

From Ponda to Bicholim and Calangute to Pernem, if there is any major civic issue citizens face after electricity supply, it is water shortage. Recently, in November, residents of Bicholim, fed up and unable to bear the situation anymore, burnt effigies of PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar in protest. In light of such increasing public outcry over water shortage, TOI visited worst hit areas to understand the problem from the eyes of the affected.


Deconstructing the feedback received from locals and the authorities showed that the problem of irregular water supply has persistently and exponentially increased over the decades. Today, villages across North Goa complain of not receiving water for several days at times, witness to which are the ubiquitous water barrels outside most homes.

The reasons for the problem are many, TOI learnt, beginning with infrastructure failing to keep up with the pressure of increasing population. Where the government has taken steps to upgrade or add new infrastructure, delivery on projects remains poor due to various technical and bureaucratic reasons.

To add to rural woes, the state government has diverted water from the treatment plants to urban areas of Porvorim, Mapusa and other developed areas of North Goa to meet the ever-rising demand there. This has left villages in the hinterland, even those in the vicinity of the water treatment plants, literally high and dry.

In semi-urban Calangute, which not only receives high tourist footfalls, but also sees mega housing projects come up at a fast pace, locals even went to the extent of alleging that PWD has installed valves in the pipes to divert water to select hotels and residential areas.

While the much-spoken of loss of water due to old rusty leaky pipelines found echo across villages, residents in the Bicholim taluka alleged that the water treatment plant at Padoxem was neglected and ill-maintained as a result of which it was unable to function at full capacity.

Locals can no longer depend on wells and tubewells, as these options too are fast fading with many polluted. In this situation, the financial impact of water shortage is what is immediately felt by locals who have to hire tankers to meet their requirements.

Their fight for their right to regular clean drinking water continues even as they pin their hopes on the government assurance that existing water treatment plants will be enhanced and new ones setup.


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