A TOTAL of P100 million will be spent by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) in its plan to rehabilitate its water facility in Barangay Jaclupan, Talisay City, Cebu.
The water supplier of Metro Cebu wants to restore the structure to its original design.
In another development, the production of water from Jaclupan has increased to 24,000 cubic meters per day (as of Friday, May 31, 2019).
Last April, the facility could only supply 9,000 cubic meters of water per day.
MCWD general manager Jose Eugenio Singson Jr. said he is hopeful that the rehabilitation of the water-storing facility will start in October. Its completion date is scheduled before the onset of the dry season in 2020.
“We hope to bid out the project within the year after the survey of the property,” he said.
Singson said the Jaclupan water facility is wide, but its capacity to store water has decreased due to the accumulation of silt—loose sedimentary material with rock particles.
The facility’s sedimentation basin covers seven hectares while the infiltration basin is four hectares.
“But now if you go there, you can’t find that area because of the silt. Since the commissioning of the water facility in Jaclupan in 1997, it was not properly maintained. There were many attempts to maintain the area, but it did not meet the methodology in maintaining the facility,” Singson said.
If the facility is restored, Singson said the water production is expected not to decrease even during a dry spell because it would have an underground water reserve.
The water reserve reportedly could give a three-month supply during a dry season.
In normal weather conditions, the Jaclupan dam produces 33,000 cubic meters of water per day.
Meanwhile, MCWD spokesperson Charmaine Kara said the Jaclupan facility is no longer at a critical level after a series of rains that Cebu experienced over the past weeks.
Kara said she is hopeful that the facility will be back in producing its normal water production in the coming days. (RVC)