DCWD notes increase in areas with 'low water pressure to no water' during pandemic

THE Davao City Water District observed that there was an increase in areas experiencing low water pressure or no water during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic times.

“Prior kasi the pandemic, around nine percent lang sa atoang total service coverage ang naga ‘low water pressure to no water’, but with the pandemic restrictions... nisaka ni siya to 24 percent (Pre-pandemic, only around nine percent of our total service coverage area was experiencing ‘low pressure to no water’ but with the pandemic restrictions it reached to 24 percent),” Jovana Cresta Duhaylungsod, DCWD Deputy Spokesperson said in an interview with SunStar Davao on June 21, 2022.

Duhaylungsod said that due to pandemic restrictions, the consumption of water increased but supply was not enough.

“Because of the pandemic nisaka ang consumption [water] in areas kung asa ang taas na concentration sa mga residential connections... because of that pag panahon sa water demand and daghan man sila sa mga balay-balay, di man sila manggawas, sabay-sabay maggamit so daghan ang mga areas nga mag-low water pressure to no water... dili na maapas sa atoang supply ang katong demand especially during peak hour of water usage (the water consumption increased in some areas where there’s a high concentration of residential connections... Because people are just staying at home, there has been a high consumption of water. Several will definitely be affected because they are using water at the same time. Our water supply is not enough especially during peak hours of water usage),” Duhaylungsod said.

Duhaylungsod said the increase of 24 percent is system wide but the most affected area is the Line 2 Dumoy System since it has the most number of service connections of 160,000 from the 240,000 total service connection of DCWD.

Aside from the restrictions due to Covid-19, Duhaylungsod said one of the causes of the water interruption in Line 2 Dumoy System is due to a leakage that has been detected in 2021, which led them to shut-off temporarily their service for 30 hours in some parts of Davao City on June 24 to 25, 2022 to fix it by establishing a new pipeline in the area.

But Duhaylungsod said, this will not absolutely resolve the water supply issue.

“Yes naa siya’y epekto, naa siya’y benepisyo, makadungag ta og oras sa water service availability in several of our customers under Line 2 sa atoang Dumoy system (We see that this will improve the water service availability in several of our customers being served through Line 2 of Dumoy),” Duhaylungsod said.

In order to answer the demand of the water supply concern, Duhaylungsod said the construction of the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP) will greatly improve their water service to Dabawenyos.

“Ang atoang gina-look forward man gyud para mahatag nato na ang 24-hours na water supply availability is the operation of the Bulk Water Supply Project, kay ang kani nga proyekto dako kaayo ni sya’g supply na madungag sa atoang operation, definitely s’ya ang mas sustainable na solution with respect sa kaning ongoing na mga intermittent supply na concern in some of our customers (We look forward to provide 24-hours water supply availability once the DCBWSP is in operations. This will be a sustainable solution in relation to our intermittent supply),” Duhaylungsod said.

The DCBWSP is a joint water project of Davao City Water District (DCWD) and Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc. that is expected to provide around 300 million liters of water to the consumers. KSD