Water in Goa dams sufficient for over month

The Goa government Friday said even if the monsoon is delayed, the water storage in the reservoirs is enough to meet the drinking requirement of the state for over a month.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the southwest monsoon onset is likely to set over Kerala on June 6, as against the normal onset date of June 1.

"There is sufficient water in the reservoirs of the state. Even if the monsoon is delayed, there is no need to worry as the storage is enough for over a month," B V Pujari, superintendent engineer of Goa water resources department, told PTI.

The current water level of Selaulim dam, the biggest in the state, is 30.20 metres, much above the dead level of 20.42 metres.

The reservoir has been the main source of drinking water for entire South Goa district, which includes the port town of Vasco.

Pujari said there is sufficient water in Selaulim dam to fulfil the requirement for the next 75-80 days.

Anjunem dam, located in north-eastern part of the state in Sattari taluka, also has 73.22 metres of water. Its dead storage level is 61.50 metres, Pujari said.

He said that even if there is no rain, water in this dam is sufficient for the next 30-35 days.

As per data available with the water resources department, the storage in Amthane (North Goa) dam is at 45.57 metres as against the dead storage level of 29 metres.

Another dam at Panchawadi village in South Goa currently has 21.01 metres of water as against the dead storage level of 14.7 metres and Chapoli dam (South Goa) has 31.82 metres as against dead level of 22 metres, Pujari said.

According to him, the department had witnessed problems with a facility at Opa near Ponda town in North Goa due to low water supply from Opa river.

"The river had started drying out since January this year, due to which there were problems. But we have managed to tide over the crisis by pumping in water into this facility from various sources," he said.

The department is pumping 35 million litres per day (MLD) water from a similar facility at Ganjem village in North Goa, he added.