AN OFFICIAL of the Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) announced that the rationing scheme is set to be lifted soon.
Engineer Teotimo Reyes, Jr., ZCWD department production manager, made this announcement Monday citing that the water levels at the diversion dam have held at 74.24 meters due to the continuous rainfall experienced by the city in the past week.
The normal elevation at the diversion dam is at 74.20 meters.
Reyes said the formal announcement lifting the water restrictions will be made after discussions and the approval of the ZCWD management anytime this week.
Reyes said they have slowly eased up the water rationing schedule in many of its service areas.
He said the run-off water is still very small and the recent rainfalls did not have a very big effect on the river flow.
However, he said this is expected to change in the coming days as the ground is already saturated.
The ZCWD implemented the water rationing starting January 8 as the water elevation at its dam declined below the normal level due to the prolonged dry spell brought about by the El Niño phenomenon.
The ZCWD divided its distribution pipelines into three sectors to enable them to supply water for 12 hours daily in each of the sector.
From the initial of 12 hours daily, the rationing scheme was shortened to eight, then to seven, and lately to 10 hours but on every other day schedule.
Maribel Enriquez, chief meteorological officer of the local Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) station, said the city had almost normal rainfall from June 1 to 26 at 104.0 millimeter.
Enriquez also reported light to moderate coastal waters and winds for the month of June. (Bong Garcia)