AS THE city grows it is expected that there will also be an increase in the demand for water. At present, DCWD’s current water production plays at around 200 to 250 million liters of water per day.
While the current number of production wells are still able to cater to the water demands of the city, it cannot be said the same for the future. Also the over extraction of ground water can cause land subsidience and saltwater intrusion.
Therefore it was a welcome development when the construction is finally about to begin for the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP) after Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (Apo Agua) held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday in Brgy. Gumalang, Baguio District, Davao City.
Apo Agua, a joint venture company between Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) and J.V. Angeles Construction Corporation (JVACC), said the DCBWSP provide the DCWD with over 300 million liters per day (mld) of safe water sourced from surface water from the Tamugan River.
The company said this will "be the largest private bulk water supply facility in the country" with a project cost estimated at around P12.6 billion.
Once the DCBWSP begins operation in 2021, it will allow some of the 65 production wells of DCWD to rest and recover. At the same time it will also prevent the over extraction of ground water.
However, with the new project, DCWD might also want to slowly improve the infrastructure of its current production wells.
For instance, it can start by putting up power generators for its water pumps. It quite common that we get notifications from DCWD that they will be having a water interruption due to a power interruption. This issues has even been raised to the city council a couple of years back.
In the coming years, Dabawenyos will hopefully be able to experience a better water service from DCWD.