Councilor berates water district for alleged lack of action

A DAVAO City councilor expressed his disappointment against the alleged lack of action of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) to address prevailing water shortage in residential areas in Buhangin.

In his privilege speech Tuesday, January 10, during the first City Council session this year, second district Councilor Diosdado Mahipus lambasted the DCWD for the insufficient supply of water in some subdivisions in Buhangin, particularly in Cabantian and Indangan areas wherein residents only rely on water ration.

According to Mahipus, he saw how the residents lined up to get their share of the water ration in his visit to affected areas during the holidays. He added that he was disheartened at the sight of people struggling just to get water supply.

It then prompted him to raise the issue to the body for solutions to the plight of the residents.

"I don't want to point an accusing finger on DCWD but to make a long story short, I want to raise it on a point of personal as well as collective privilege," he said.

He said that it is high time for the City Council to intervene in the situation as the people's representative and to call upon the DCWD for them to explain their side and reveal the status of their capacity to provide water to the public.

Mahipus also described the developmental certification issued by the DCWD as an "empty assurance".

The developmental certification assures the residential developer that no developmental permit will be approved unless they get a certification from DCWD before they could start building.

"We all know that during the time when these developmental permits can be processed, we always make sure that there is this certification from the DCWD that they can provide potable water to these subdivisions," he underscored.

All of the existing subdivisions in Cabantian, Tigatto, Mandug, Indangan, and Acacia which were able to get developmental permits are now in full occupancy but has insufficient water supply.

"They were assured that the pipes are already laid but until now they have not receive the water assured them," Mahipus said.

He also said that Davao City has been carrying the pride as the city with enough volume of water to provide the demand of the city and as the second best water resource in the world, Mahipussai.

"How can we be truly proud of such accolade and claim if our people in the subdivisions do not have water to drink and they have to buy expensive water," he noted.

Mahipus then urged the council to pass a resolution under the suspended rules to call on the attention of the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB) towards their consistent disapproval pertaining to the private companies or petitioners who intend to put up water bulk to supply the whole city.

"NWRB should now give due force to the petition of many private companies who would like to enter Davao City and help in the distribution of water," he said.

Earlier, DCWD spokesperson lawyer Bernardo Delima Jr. admitted there is insufficiency in Cabantian area but they are optimistic that they will be able to finish the two pumping stations in Indangan village to address the residents' water woes.

He attributed the problem to the massive housing developments in the area which could have yielded underwater sources but are now cemented over.

Those areas were once forested and could have served as recharging zones of the aquifer but they are now concretized due to massive housing projects.

The two production wells have a designed capacity of at least 9,000 cubic meters a day which is enough to supply the demand of water of the residents in Cabantian.

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