Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said that he will wait for the recommendation of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) and the department heads if there’s a need to declare a state of emergency in the city due to the El Niño phenomenon.
“If it is required and a need to do so, we will declare a state of emergency,” Benitez said.
He said that based on the report of the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa)-PrimeWater, its existing water supply had decreased by 15 million liters a day (MLD).
“It decreased by almost 12 percent, so we have a water shortage, and because of the El Niño, we expect that it will decrease again,” he added.
The mayor noted that the city government already identified two locations of water sources to address the water problem in the city.
These two water sources include the Bocal-Bocal Spring in Barangay Alangilan and the Matab-ang River, which is located at the boundary of Bacolod and Talisay cities.
Benitez said the Baciwa-Primewater already started the pipelaying from the Bocal-Bocal Spring towards its injection point in Barangay Alangilan.
“There will be an agreement between the private company and the Baciwa-Primewater to utilize the water source in Bocal-Bocal Spring while in Matab-ang River, it will be financed by the city government,” he said.
He said they are now finalizing their documents so they can start construction in Matab-ang River with an estimated P50 million budget.
Benitez, along with the officials of Baciwa-PrimeWater held an emergency meeting last week and it was found out that the city needs at least 20 MLD to address the problem.
Benitez said the Bocal-Bocal Spring water source can deliver at least 12 MLD, while the Matab-ang River can provide at least 20 MLD.
The mayor stressed that the Baciwa-PrimeWater assured the city that they will soon operate the new water source to address the water shortage in the city.
“We are monitoring them everyday and hopefully within a month, they can deliver more water for our constituents,” Benitez said.
Benitez disclosed that most of the affected barangays are in the northern area of Bacolod including Barangays Mandalagan and Bata and they will prioritize them once the two water sources are operational.*