THE Davao City Water District (DCWD) said the water-drinking challenge, a challenge to drink the water in Barangay Cabantian proposed by Davao City Councilor Bernard Al-ag and other council members, is all set and will soon start last week this month.

In a press conference, DCWD spokesperson Bernard Delima said the district is in the final stage of water pipes' disinfection process for the hydro testing.

Prior to the challenge given by Al-ag last August, Delima said DCWD already started doing the disinfection process months before the councilor's dare due to the request of the barangay council of Cabantian.

The disinfection has to be finished before the hydro testing to comply first the request of the barangay council.

Since Barangay Cabantian is big, Delima said the district has to disinfect water pipes per community and it usually takes a week since the chemical poured into the water pipe has to stay long to assure that the residues in the inner line of the pipes will be flushed out.

"I drank the water prior to our disinfection but nothing bad happened to me even when the water has this yellowish color," he said.

The water is slightly yellowish, he said, because the Cabantian source has a limestone rock formation.

Delima added that all DCWD board members and other officials are ready to take the challenge and drink the Cabantian water, proving that the public should not hold a fear of contamination.

DCWD, he added, already took 18 samples earlier this year from different areas in Cabantian for examination.

The water examination has shown that the samples were all clear, stating that it is really safe to drink as the maximum number for water sampling is only three but the district tested 18.