Panaji: A delay by a mining company in issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for setting up Goa’s first plant to treat water from mining pits has slowed the project’s progress and increased uncertainty at a time when the state is likely to face a water shortage due to a monsoon deficit.The project proponents have given a presentation to state govt on the project and how the water would be treated for drinking purposes.Drinking water minister Subhash Phal Dessai told TOI that over the last two months, his department has been following up with the mining company to get the NOC to start the project. Dessai said that as the surface right is with the mining company, it is mandatory to get an NOC. “We need around 3,000sqm of land to put up plant and we are waiting for the NOC,” he said.This plant, with a capacity of 3MLD, will come up at Cavrem, Sanguem, and is an experiment to address the drinking water shortage in the state.The department of drinking water, a new department carved out from PWD, conducted a survey of mining pits in Goa to use the water for drinking.Phal Dessai decided to set up the plant in his constituency to treat water from mining pits to dispel the popular misconception that such water is not fit to drink, as well as to solve the water shortage issue in the state.The department already procured samples from mining pits and sent them to three laboratories to check the quality of the water and whether it can be used for drinking, and the results showed that there was no water contamination and no need to use chemicals to treat the water.Phal Dessai had said that “the quality of water in mining pits is so good that it does not require chlorine to treat it before it is supplied to the public.”Goa has many abandoned mining pits, which have turned into water storage pits.
