PONDA: Potable water supply to Ponda taluka and part of Tiswadi taluka has been normalized after five pumps began functioning from late Monday night onwards. The supply was disrupted after all seven pumps at the 55-MLD plant at Opa water treatment plant were submerged on Friday night.Executive engineer Dilip Dhavalikar said that five pumps have been started and two were being installed late on Monday. Normally, only five pumps are used to fetch water from River Khandepar and two are kept on standby.The seven pumps were submerged after an iron pipe attached to the seventh pump broke, leading to submerging of all pumps on Friday. Residents of Ponda taluka and parts of Tiswadi woke up to find their taps dry as all the submerged pumps were non-functional.“Once the motor inside the pumps are soaked in water, it becomes non-functional and needs to dry by being heated inside a furnace for about a day. We have already got three dehydration motors from a Vasco-based unit and will get the remaining motors by Monday. Water supply to Ponda will be regularised by Tuesday after restoring all seven pumps,” Dhavalikar said.“The water division tried to ease the problem by releasing water from the 12-MLD and 8-MLD plant. Tankers were sent to supply water where tap water could not reach,” said Nivruti Parsekar, assistant engineer at Ponda.As the 55-MLD plant supplies water to Ponda taluka and part of Tiswadi including Old Goa and Cumbharjua, consumers faced hardships on the weekend.

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