THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) issued a water storage advisory Monday, Sept. 16, 2019, to its customers in Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town.
MCWD spokesperson Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara said a private bulk supplier’s plant in Suba-Basbas, Lapu-Lapu City stopped supplying 3,500 cubic meters (cu. m.) per day starting September after encountering operational problems.
This affected MCWD consumers in Babag, Marigondon, Maribago, Mactan, Punta Engaño in Lapu-Lapu City and the entire Municipality of Cordova.
Consumers in these areas are experiencing fewer service hours and very unstable water supply.
MCWD is encouraging affected consumers to store water during the off-peak hours or from midnight to 5 a.m. when the demand is low.
Kara said the water storage advisory will continue until a new supplier can provide the 3,500 cu. m. that was lost in the system.
According to Kara, MCWD talked to Mactan Rock Industries Inc. (MRII), which has a plant in Gabi, Cordova, to increase its production and supply more to the water district by 5,000 cu. m. per day.
MRII is currently supplying 5,000 cu. m. daily to the MCWD system.
Kara said MRII is now gradually increasing the volume it is delivering until the fully 5,000 cu.m. daily will be delivered by October.
She said resorts in the area were already advised of the shortage problem.
In a separate interview, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan said he hopes MCWD can find solutions to the water supply shortage, particularly in the barangays where the resorts are located.
He said the water shortage has long been a problem even when he was still not mayor.
That is why after becoming mayor in July, he immediately met with MCWD to discuss possible solutions and asked its officials to solve the problem in 100 days.
MCWD, however, could not guarantee that it could do so.
Among all the barangays, Punta Engaño needs immediate attention since water supply does not reach the village.
Punta Engaño is home to several five-star resort hotels.
According to Chan, MRII, which operates a water treatment facility in Lapu-Lapu, assured him that it would supply MCWD with 8,000 cubic meters of water a day so water supply could reach Punta Engaño.
“If they can add more, that would be better because we don’t want the operations of the city to be affected, especially those of businesses,” he said.
Meanwhile, MCWD’s Buhisan Dam’s current production is only 3,000 cu. m. per day, which is less than 50 percent of its normal yield during the rainy season.
Historically, the Buhisan Dam’s production is 7,000 cu. m. per day, except during the summer months. At the height of the dry spell this year, the Buhisan Dam had a zero production by March and it only recovered in July.
However, its production continued to decrease in August until it reached the 3,000 cubic meters per day-level in September due to the lack of rains that feed directly to the Buhisan Watershed.
MCWD is relying on the increased yield from the Jaclupan facility, which is sourced from the Mananga River, to serve the areas that were supposed to be getting the supply from Buhisan Dam, which include parts of Cebu City.
However, MCWD accepted Pilipinas Water Resources Inc.’s (PWRI) proposal to increase its bulk supply in the Mambaling injection point by 5,000 cu. m. per day tentatively within the year.
This means, its contracted volume will increase to 10,000 cu. m. per day. This will benefit MCWD consumers in Mambaling, Inayawan, Cogon Pardo, Pardo, Quiot, Kinasang-an, Basak Pardo, Basak San Nicolas, Duljo-Fatima, Sawang Calero, Suba and Pasil in Cebu City.
In August, MCWD reported a production deficit of 13,000 cu. m. per day as one of its private supplier’s wells was shut down due to saltwater intrusion and two other wells reported to have reduced yields.
The shutdown of the well in Consolacion and the lowering of the daily production from Cebu Manila Water Development Inc. by 3,000 cu. m. per day affected the water services to MCWD consumers in Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion, parts of Mandaue and the whole of Mactan Island.
The reduction of the production of one of MCWD’s wells in Talamban affected the water supply for consumers in Barangays Banilad, Luz, parts of Lahug, Kamputhaw and Apas.
For two months, MCWD already lost a total volume of close to 20,000 cu. m. per day.
The water district is inviting property owners with available water supply and those who have technologies that will provide solutions to Metro Cebu’s water shortage problem to submit proposals. MVG, GCM OF SUPERBALITA CEBU / LRC WITH PR