THE Bacolod Bulk Water Inc. (BBWI) vowed to comply their contract with the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) for Injection Point I in Barangay Granada and to provide accessible clean water in the city.
Lawyer King Martinez, spokesperson of BBWI, said yesterday that they submitted their reply to the notice of violation issued by Baciwa last week.
She said they have been supplying water to residents and businesses in Bacolod City since the inauguration in 2017.
“We have been supplying potable water to the pipeline of Baciwa since inauguration. It’s not disputed that the water supplied by BBWI was transmitted to Baciwa’s customers and consumed,” she added.
Baciwa had earlier served a notice of violation to BBWI for committing major violations in the contract with Baciwa for bulk water supply for Injection Point I in Barangay Granada.
BBWI violated Section 1, Article III of the bulk water supply contract which its water was not injected or delivered by BBWI to the 9,842 cubic meter reservoir since day one of delivery on October 16, 2017, hence Baciwa was not able to accept the delivered water at the Injection Point at 9,842 cubic meter reservoir at Loygoy in Barangay Granada.
BBWI has not laid pipes leading to the reservoir to inject water threat, despite the lapse of the 18-month project completion period and an agreed extension of six months.
No online analyzer was installed and so the water quality monitoring is done manually and this is non-compliance to the contract. The electromagnetic flowmeters were installed last April 19, 2018. Using the Emag flowmeters, it was measured that the flow rate is below a minimum of 417 cubic meters per hour required per contract and the volume delivered is under 10 mld, which is considered as under delivery and a violation of the contract.
BBWI Chairman Ryan Yapkianwee said that to address the issue of under-delivery resulting to the violation of contract, they reiterated to resolve the inconsistency in readings between the electromagnetic flowmeter and the ultrasonic flow meter.
“We believe that this might be an error with either of the meters, or with the clearance between bends leading up to the flow meters. We are requesting for a joint evaluation of the flowmeter with the Baciwa technical team, and subsequent testing of both meters to determine the real contention behind this,” he said.
BBWI also took on the topic of non-compliance in installing an on line analyzer for water quality resting and stressed that it never failed water quality tests.
“There were some logistical setbacks in the delivery of the online analyzer, but we have taken every precaution to guarantee the portability and quality of the water we deliver. In fact, on top of laboratory testing, we also have multiple third-party water quality tests, Negros Prawn in Bacolod and Echem Environmental in Manila. BBWI has never failed any water quality test,” Yapkianwee said.
The BBWI promised to continue to do their best to comply in good faith and remains committed to solving the water shortage in Bacolod through faithfully adhering to legal procedures in addressing complaints in the proper forum, one by one.
King said that they have been delivering water to Baciwa since inauguration and they have not been paid.
“We already spending millions for this project, but we will still continue to deliver water for the people of Bacolod,” she said.
The BBWI is a consortium majority owned and led by Tubig Pilipinas Inc. Group. Through the Ngalan water treatment plant, it is currently supplying more than 15, 000 cubic meters of potable water to Baciwa.
Meanwhile, King said the Injection Point II in Murcia is also expected to be finished by October.
She said upon the completion of Sum-ag Water treatment plant and the delivery pipeline located in Murcia, the entire project is expected to increase the supply of potable water to 15,000 cubic meters per day through a 25-period in a planned 20-kilometer pipeline directly connected to the Baciwa reservoir.
Baciwa assistant general manager for operations Jenelyn Gemora had earlier said the BBWI started its water delivery in November last year, but until now they were not paid because of the non-compliance on the contract.