Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink’. This famous line in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, resonates with the grim reality for the residents across the State who have to fight for the fundamental right to have access to clean drinking water. The idea of a 24-hour water supply is far-fetched when government after government, year after year, has failed to address the fundamental issue of providing potable water to the public even for a minimum of four hours a day so that people can store for their day’s needs.
Taking suo motu cognizance in response to a letter, the High Court had to intervene and direct the Public Works Department (PWD) to ensure atleast three hours of water is supplied to the residents of Dona Paula. Incidentally, the residents of Hawaii Beach, which forms a part of Dona Paula, during a Gram Sabha on April 30, had complained that the area had been receiving erratic water supply.
While the Water Resources Department (WRD), which is incharge of the State’s reservoirs, has claimed to have enough water to meet drinking water requirements for the next 45 days until the end of June this year, residents across several villages during the foregone weeks have been raising alarms of acute water shortage, leading to a spike in the demand for water supply through tankers.
However, the recent incident of a water tanker involved in disposing of sewage waste has led to serious concerns about the safety of water supplied by the tankers in the State. The WRD issued a statement in the public interest to check the tankers’ veracity before booking water supply. But isn’t it the responsibility of the Health Department, Transport Department, the PWD, and the local governing body to ensure that such vehicles adhere to the norms in place and that public health and safety are not compromised?
Until nearly two decades ago, in almost every village ward and even the urban wards of the municipal areas where potable water was in short supply through the pipeline, water tankers belonging to the PWD would provide the needed relief. In the absence of a water tanker supply, these localities would have a functional hand pump and a common water tap facility, which have been eliminated. Red-tapism, the mindset to control and become the center of gravity in the power hierarchy has caused a lot of damage to governance and public goodwill. While ‘Har Ghar Jal’ sounds fantastic, the fact remains that in the social-anthropological context of Goa, with migration as a factor, the 100 per cent possibility of such an exercise is next to impossible. Therefore, for the public good, some of the responsibilities of welfare activities, such as the installation of common water supply points, need to be divested to the local governing bodies.
The government has to study the carrying capacity of the State before handing out express licences to new projects, including housing and hotels. With the excessive dependence on tourism and large-scale in-migration leading to urbanization, the burden on the resources will multiply manifold. As claimed by the WRD, if the state reservoirs have sufficient water to supply, then the treatment plants need enhancement and these need to be treated urgently on a war footing. People of the State have not forgotten the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) project which was to ensure a 24-hour water supply to the designated areas by 2016. A review and public report about the project have been long overdue.
Lastly, without being swayed by the temptations of only megalomaniac projects which are visible and the hunger to garner votes, the State government needs to draw a master plan with a vision for at least five decades.