Saturday, August 16, 2008 Delivering the most basic By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
THE chief architect tasked with ensuring the people of Davao City of quality and affordable water is an environmentalist, a gentle and an athletic individual who plays almost all kinds of sports.
She is Rodora N. Gamboa, the 45-year-old general manager of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) who has the Herculean task at hand of delivering a 24-hour water service in the city.
As of now, Gamboa admits that not all households are enjoying an uninterrupted water supply, especially in the second district.
Gamboa said that of the 156,000 households with connections, or translated to some 780,000 consumers, 20 percent of these have yet to enjoy a 24-hour water service.
"My job really is to make sure that there is enough water for everybody, to supply the people of Davao with sufficient and quality water," Gamboa told Sun.Star Davao.
Gamboa said the only problematic area is the second district, particularly Cabantian where consumers not only complain of poor water service but also poor quality.
Gamboa has seen this problem right from the very start. Before she became a full-pledged general manager in January of 2007, she was with the DCWD since 1987 where she started as section chief manning the electronic data processing department.
From that post, she rose from the ranks and has been working for the water firm for over 20 years now. When Gamboa became DCWD's leading architect last year, she immediately worked to address the problem compounding the consumers in the second district, which is composed of big areas like Buhangin, Panacan, Bunawan and Cabantian.
Among the projects that she took was to have the reservoir in the area repaired which resulted in improved water service.
Now, the DCWD is embarking on a big project by tapping water from rivers to ease demand pressure on underground sources. This will be realized through the proposed Surface Water Development Project in Tamugan.
When she assumed her post, Gamboa coined her programs as Nicer and Spice, which she will implement in the DCWD under her watch.
In Nicer, the letter N stands for non-revenue reduction, I for infrastructure development, C for consumer satisfaction, E for environmental protection and R for resource management.
Gamboa advocates for environment protection and is working hard to make sure the environment is protected in any major DCWD undertaking.
Gamboa's love for the environment started after graduating from college at the University of Mindanao (UM) in Chemical Engineering back in 1984. Years later, she took up a masters degree on environmental planning at the same school.
Gamboa was born in Manila but grew up in Davao. She spent her elementary and high school years at the Assumption School and traces her roots in Mati, Davao Oriental. She has two kids.
During her spare time, Gamboa plays badminton and does some walking exercise. She also confessed to have engaged in athletics, basketball and volleyball during her elementary and high school years.
"I also play bowling," she said.
At the DCWD office, Gamboa said they have the central information unit that receives all kinds of complaints from consumers, and she is happy to attend to their problems.
But the lady GM has an advice to the consumers: "Conserve water and save rainwater. The more you conserve, the better."
Gamboa said few people realize that saving rainwater is important. Consumers, according to her, may use rainwater during water interruption and that saving rainwater can also prevent flooding.
Gamboa, however, assures that DCWD is trying its best to supply potable and affordable water 24 hours a day, which is actually the water company's mission.
