Panaji: Almost all of South Goa’s water needs are met by two water treatment plants at Selaulim, with several areas now experiencing shortages as the population expands. Now, a new 100MLD plant, which will be ready for trial in April, will help South Goa overcome all the shortfalls.
For the first time in India, the plant will not use the conventional method, but a filter underdrain system imported from Canada, which increases production of treated water due to the lesser time taken for filtration.
“In the conventional method, the filtration rate was lower. The system needed for the new plant was imported from Canada. This plant uses less space, but its filtration rate is higher. Only six filter beds are needed, as opposed to the eight filter beds in the old plant. The plant will help improve and increase water supply to all of South Goa, other than Canacona, to which Selaulim plants do not cater,” said Mahesh Haldankar from the Drinking Water Department’s (DWD) technical team at Selaulim.
The plant is being constructed for Rs. 370 crore, which includes new pipelines for distribution from Xelpem to Shirvoi to Quepem to Margao, further to Verna, and Verna to Dabolim.
“All shortages in South Goa will be covered up after the new plant is ready. There are some shortages in areas like Queenynagar and Zuarinagar up to Dabolim, which fall at the tail end, in Mormugao taluka. With the new plant, we will have an additional 95MLD of water, after factoring in leakages, to supply Mormugao and parts of Salcete. This, along with the water from the 100MLD and 160MLD plants, will allow us to supply water for more hours to Huth Goa by mid-year,” Haldankar said.
The new plant is expected to be ready for commissioning shortly after May.
“When the 100MLD plant was constructed under the JICA scheme, the assessment back then already said that another 100MLD of treated water would be required by 2025 in South Goa. So, when the JICA plant was constructed, provision was already made by creating a facility for the aeration process for a capacity of 200MLD.
This fast-tracked the construction of the new 100MLD plant,” said Haldankar.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/5dxmk7as
