THE Davao City Water District (DCWD) encourages its customers to store water on April 21 in case of prolonged heavy rain, which may cause the Tamugan River's high turbidity to hamper the bulk water supply.
DCWD posted on Facebook on April 14 that they encourage their customers to store water in clean and covered containers because, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) forecast, there might be a heavy downpour which will cause high turbidity in the Tamugan River, the main source of water for the bulk water supply.
The water district said that to ensure continuous water service despite the Tamugan River's high turbidity level, it will operate its groundwater sources in “full blast.” If the high turbidity level persists, customers in elevated locations far from the storage facilities may experience low to no water pressure, particularly during peak water usage hours.
“DCWD will be closely monitoring all affected areas to ensure that affected customers will be supplied within the 24-hour time frame,” DCWD wrote in the post.
Meanwhile, JC Duhaylungsod, spokesperson of DCWD, said in a media interview on Tuesday morning, April 16, 2024 at the Sangguniang Panlungsod that they released an advisory on the possible low water supply so customers can prepare and store water.
“Sa atoang bulk water supply na adunay ingon-ani nga mga panghitabo and possibly nga musaka ang turbidity that would result sa mga temporary stoppage of operation sa bulk water or reduced na flow sa ilahang end para pud ang katong mga customers makapangandam sila makapondo sila og tubig so whether mahitabo man siya o dili at least naa gihapon silay supply na magamit,” she said.
(For our bulk water supply, there are times that things such as this will happen and it’s possible that the turbidity level will increase, which would result in a temporary stoppage in the operation of the bulk water or there would be reduced flow in the customer’s end so with this the customers could prepare and store water so whether it happens or not at least they still have a sufficient supply of water at their disposal).
Duhaylungsod added that it is part of their contingency plan when the turbidity is high in the Tamugan River, and if the bulk water operation is heavily affected, they will “re-operate” their production wells.
“In fact, pag naa nana silay notification na nisaka ang turbidity level wala pa nag-stop og distribute sa atoang mga storage facility naka-online na ang atoang mga production wells (In fact, if they already received a notification that the turbidity level has increased we still haven’t stopped the distribution of water to our storage facility and our production well are already online),” she said.
She stressed that with the backup systems, their customers will still have a water supply, however, emphasizing that “reverting back to the groundwater source without the surface water supply is like going back (sa katong) [to our] previous (nato na) operation.”
With the backup system, the water district ensures that the water supply continues even if the bulk water supply temporarily stops operation. RGP
Related stories:
