The government's efforts are not inspiring confidence either. Each person, on an average, needs to be given 150 liters of water a day. Goans are suddenly being told they will need permission to sink a well. The government's approach seems to be that the villager, and his relationship with water, needs to be closely policed. This in a Goa that gets around 3,000 mm of rainfall each year, much of which is carelessly left to runaway into the Arabian Sea.
Hoteliers feel they too have a legitimate grouse.
Pre-independence Goa used to depend on its village wells. Then, in the 1960s, the state adopted the policy of big dams, and the long-delayed Salaulim dam was built. But as demands from industries grew, the badly mismanaged centralized water network could not meet local needs. Adding to problems, a real estate boom meant houses built in areas where wells could not provide water. But how the law will help the villagers remains unclear.