STILL reeling from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Vinta, the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) is preparing for yet another weather disturbance that may enter the country before New Year’s Day.
Engineer Bienvenido Batar Jr., COWD assistant general manager, said they are now double-checking whether holes at the booster stations and pumping stations are tightly sealed to prevent further water interruption in the first days of January 2018.
“We are also preparing our water tanks and bladders because water interruption is really possible if flashfloods will again occur. Let’s just pray it won’t hit Northern Mindanao again,” Batar said.
Batar explained that although booster and pumping stations are sealed, it is in the COWD protocol to clean them.
“Although they are sealed, our presumption is the flood water still managed to enter it so we really need to clean, we really need to flush out, thus we needed to shut down our operations,” he said.
Clusters of clouds east of Mindanao are being monitored by the state weather bureau as these will likely develop into a Low Pressure Area that could enter the country on Saturday, December 30 or on Sunday, New Year’s Eve.
“If we will be placed again under (Tropical Cyclone Warning) Signal Number 2, we will also activate our emergency operations center which will run for 16 hours,” he added.
Batar also disclosed that seven of COWD’s 8 wells are now fully operational, though they’re on the process of disinfecting the booster station in Macasandig.
The remaining well still awaits the result of the water quality tests before it can be commissioned back.
The new development brings to 29 percent the supply shortfall to the central service area. In the west side, supply short fall has been reduced to 2 percent.
“If everything goes well, it is hoped that we shall have achieved full recovery of operations before the year ends,” the COWD said in an advisory.