Friday, June 06, 2008 Water district warns of looming water crisis By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
THE Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) has warned consumers against threats of deterioration in the quality of drinking water from underground sources due to contamination from surface water, overexploitation and mismanagement of resources.
The warning was issued following preliminary results on a collaborative study made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and Baciwa, from September 2005 to date.
Baciwa chief engineer Jenelyn Gemora, who served as the local researcher counterpart, took water sampling from the 27 wells of Baciwa and sent them to Pakistan for "isotope analysis." She also flew to Canada for the actual processing of these samples.
"Isotope analysis and application enable Baciwa to better understand underground water systems and ground waterways. Baciwa was able to identify underground waters vulnerable to pollution and its sources," she told Sun.Star Bacolod.
"This is why we found out with precision that Bacolod City's coastal areas, from Barangay I to the far end of Barangay Punta Taytay, are already contaminated by seawater seepages more than one kilometer inward, including middle class subdivision parallel to the coastline," Gemora stressed.
She added that construction of residential deep wells, communal water pumps and wells within the one-kilometer coastline range is already dangerous to health and even for washing.
With this, Gemora called on the City Government to delineate the areas that need concentrated efforts for protection, forest cover preservation and restoration within or outside the reservation area of the watershed.
She added that through the "isotope and nuclear techniques application in water management and protection," areas suitable for digging wells and critical areas needing reforestation and planting trees for protection and water replenishment could be scientifically identified or "delineated."
She said this would slow down "looming water crisis through scientific management and protection."
