Dhavalikar spoke after commissioning the Rs 52 crore Mhaisal water treatment plant at Panchwadi in Shiroda, Ponda, on Sunday.
The PWD minister also switched on the automation unit of the 10-MLD fully automated plant.
The entire plant spread over the 42,136 sqm at the Gawaliwada plateau atop Panchwadi hillock in Shiroda constituency will cater to drinking water needs of Shiroda and Panchwadi, part of Borim and Sanvordem.
The PWD minister said that as per the Rural Development Agency suggestions, rural people need 40 litres of water per head per day and urban people needs 125 litres of water per head per day.
But, rural people use about 125 litres of water and urban people use 200 litres of water per head per day on an average.
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The remaining 118 litres of water goes to the gutters,” Dhavalikar said, further appealing to people to use water resources reasonably.
Sawaikar also stressed on the need for water conservation.
“It is the joint responsibility of the people and government to make the water available to all,” he said.
The legislator also suggested that there could be a passage created between the Mhaisal dam and the water treatment plant and it should be developed as a tourist destination, so the local panchayat could earn some revenue.