Water trickles into Panaji, may flow from taps today

Panaji: The PWD began to cautiously pump water from the Opa water treatment plant into the damaged pipeline with water trickling into ground level reservoirs across Tiswadi on Wednesday night. Despite the resumption of water supply, PWD officials said that it would take at least two more days for water supply to return to normal.

Residents in the capital city and its outskirts will have to brace for yet another day of water shortage, as PWD will find it near impossible to provide water at normal levels.

After seven days of work, the critical pipelines that supply water to Tiswadi and Ponda, the 900mm pipeline was welded and PWD released water slowly.

With PWD erring on the side of caution, water was pumped at 50% pressure into ground level reservoirs (GLR) and overhead water tanks at Bambolim, Taleigao, Nagali, Ribandar, Chimbel and Altinho.

“By tomorrow (Thursday) we are trying to resume water supply in all the areas. But it will take another two to three days for things to get to normal,” said PWD principal chief engineer Uttam Parsekar.

Sources said Marcela, Cumbharjua, Banastari, Old Goa and parts of Ponda will continue to face water shortage till the 750mm water pipeline, which was damaged in the landslide, is also restored.

Interestingly, PWD minister Deepak Pauskar said that water would be supplied to domestic consumers by 11pm on Wednesday.

Parsekar said water began to flow into the 2,000-cubic meter Altinho water tank after 8pm. Given that water is being pumped very slowly, it would take round six to seven hours for the tank to be filled and for water to be released for domestic consumption, said a PWD executive engineer.

“The water is being gradually released and it is expected that by Thursday morning, water will be supplied to different areas as per the usual schedule,” said superintending engineer Ulhas Kerkar.

Given that the pipeline has been dry for a week, air has been trapped in the pipeline and has to be let out. If water is released at high pressure, the water trapped in the pipelines will create an air pocket and the pressure could cause the pipelines to rupture or burst at weak points.

There are 12 valves that empty water into the 900mm water pipeline with PWD officials opening a valve after a space of 30 minutes. The valves themselves were left half opened instead of being opened completely.

“We inspected the repaired portion of the pipeline at 4am and the pumping of water began at 7am. We checked the water pipelines for leakages along the route,” said Parsekar.

The principal chief engineer said that it takes four hours for water to flow from the Opa water treatment plant to Panaji , but with the entire pipeline empty and at just 50% pressure, it would take three more hours for water to reach the capital city.

PWD supplies 36-40 MLD of water to Panaji from the Altinho overhead tank. However, the capital city has a larger requirement for treated water.