MCWD warns of water shortage April next year

CEBU, Philippines - Consumers of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District were told to conserve water as early as now amid the forecast that there will be drought from January to May next year because of the El Niño phenomenon.

Edgar Ortega, MCWD Production and Distribution Department head, said they projected a water shortage of around 34,000 cubic meters per day between April to May of next year.

This is because the water dams in Jaclupan, Talisay City and Buhisan, Cebu City are still enough to supply water among its consumers from January to March.

MCWD spokesperson Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara, however, said in her slide presentation during a press conference yesterday said there is an additional water of 29,400 cubic meters per day starting January of next year the shortage would just be 4,600 cubic meters.

She said the public could help avert this if the 169,000 households MCWD is serving would conserve at least 10 liters of water per day.

As part of MCWD’s effort to have more water, it forged an agreement with bulk water suppliers to purchase water from them and commissioned additional wells.

The Cebu Manila Water Development, Inc., MCWD’s bulk water supplier which sources water from the Luyang River in Carmen town, is already supplying 24,000 cubic meters of water a day to the water district and an additional 11,000 cubic meters a day will be supplied starting January next year.

In October this year, MCWD’s Cubacub well started to operate and produced up to 1,200 cubic meters of water a day.

The well of Abejo Waters Corp. (AWC), another bulk water supplier, and MCWD’s well in Mandaue City are also expected to be operational this month to provide a total production capacity of 5,200 cubic meters a day.

AWC’s Suba-Basbas well and MCWD’s Cabancalan well are likewise expected to be commissioned in April next year for a total capacity of 12,000 cubic meters of water day.

The water district has also desilted the Buhisan Dam and its Jaclupan facility and aggressively implemented measures to bring down the volume of its non-revenue water.

Pumps have undergone preventive maintenance for better efficiency and MCWD has also purchased additional trucks, which can be used to deliver water to customers who cannot be served due to low pressure or water service interruption.

In a separate statement, MCWD said it relied mostly on its groundwater sources,  which account for 80 percent of its daily production or 174,000 cubic meters per day and 20 percent is from surface water sources, which is 40,000 cubic meters per day.

El Niño has not significantly affected groundwater sources but the water district expects that the phenomenon will affect its surface water sources—the Buhisan Dam, which normally produces 7,000 cubic meters of water a day, and the Jaclupan facility, which produces 33,000 cubic meters of water a day.

MCWD  said it would implement rationing in affected areas in case its surface water production goes down to 6,000 cubic meters a day, like when the country last experienced El Niño in 2010.

The water district has also been advocating water conservation and the efficient use of water through reusing and recycling.

According to a Philippine Institute for Development Studies data, an average Filipino family uses two liters per capita per day for drinking, four liters for cooking and the kitchen, and five for laundry. 

The bulk of water use in the household is for personal hygiene at 23 liters per capita per day and 20 liters for sanitation services. These are two areas where water conservation, reusing and recycling should be done. —/RHM (FREEMAN)