Bontoc town considers own water district

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Mayor Pascual Sacgaca is eyeing to create a water district here.

Sacgaca said the town does not have a legitimate system for water and the creation of the Bontoc Water District (BWD) would be important to set the system in place.

Sacgaca said at the moment the town is merely collecting P20 from households for water connections which are riddled with multiple connections. “We are losing thousands in income because of this.”

According to the latest census, Bontoc has a population of 24,798 people in 5,035 households scattered into the areas of Alab Proper, Alab Oriente, Balili, Bayyo, Bontoc Ili, Caneo, Dalican, Gonogon, Guinaang, Mainit, Maligcong, Samoki, Talubin, Tocucan, Poblacion (Bontoc) and Caluttit

Sacgaca said: “There is an increasing number of households and they are tapping into water systems.”

The chief executive has already created the Board of Trustees for the BWD and is now waiting for the ratification of the local council.

After the ratification of the local legislative body the resolution will be forwarded to the Local Water Utilities Administration to finally create the BWD.

“I have sat down with the local council thrice already to convince them to ratify the resolution.”

Sacgaca said there was an initial hesitation from local legislators alluding to resistance from residence because of increased water fees.

The mayor said there are two items in his priority plans for the town, one is garbage disposal and another is the creation of the BWD.