Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has directed multiple departments to take measures to curb pollution in River Sal following repeated complaints and an inspection by its team.Based on the inspection team’s recommendations, the Board directed the Water Resources Department (WRD) to desilt and clean all nullahs within the Fatorda and Margao constituency limits. WRD has also been asked to inspect the nullahs to identify sewage discharge points flowing into the river.The GSPCB directed the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) and the Urban Health Centre to jointly verify whether houses and residential complexes from Bolshe Circle to Comba have septic tanks or soak pits, or are connected to the sewerage network. Residential complexes with 25 or more flats must have a functional sewage treatment plant or be connected to the sewerage network.“Margao Municipal Council along with Urban Health Centre should jointly check/verify the houses at location Khareband with top priority. The Sewerage and Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL)/Public Works Department (PWD) need to extend sewerage line wherever such discharge points are noted so that from household and commercial establishments sewage is connected to public sewerage and not discharged in storm water drains/nullahs etc,” the GSPCB told the SIDCGL and PWD.The Board asked the agencies to implement the directives and complete the work in a time-bound manner.Residents have been complaining about pollution and garbage dumping in the Sal since 2008.The Sal, one of Goa’s longest rivers, originates as a small stream at Verna and flows about 35km parallel to the coast before meeting the Arabian Sea at Betul. Once the lifeline of Salcete, the river was navigable up to Margao barely a century ago.The National Green Tribunal constituted the River Rejuvenation Committee in 2019 to monitor the state government’s action plan for reviving the polluted river. However, pollution continues despite the plan. The state’s Sal River Action Plan Report, 2019, identified the Khareband-Margao stretch as the most polluted section of the river, followed by the Assolna-Mobor-Betul belt.Studies have also recorded a decline in water quality across several stretches of the river due to direct dumping of solid waste and discharge of untreated industrial and domestic sewage. The resulting increase in total dissolved solids has also led to higher pH levels in the water.
