AHEAD of the extreme weather disturbance over Metro Cebu on Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) is advising its customers to store water for their use for 24 hours.
As Tropical Depression Samuel threatens the Visayas and is expected to bring heavy rains, water supply interruptions may occur in the event of power outages and flooding in surface water sources.
At present, 70 percent of MCWD's daily supply come from groundwater wells which rely on electricity to pump water out for distribution in the entire Metro Cebu.
However, MCWD has stand-by generator sets in its major well fields and has several portable generator sets to ensure the resumption of 50 percent of its water supply capacity in the event of a power outage.
Likewise, the turbidity of water from rivers which are the sources of water of some of MCWD's private bulk water suppliers affect the water district's capability to serve its customers.
If a heavy downpour causes flooding in freshwater sources, muddy water is produced which fails the standards set by the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water that MCWD needs to comply with.
This is the scenario of the supply from the Luyang River in Carmen, which MCWD is distributing to its customers in Liloan, Consolacion, parts of Mandaue and Cebu cities and the entire Mactan island. (PR)