CMWDI told: Address water supply concern with long term solutions

CEBU, Philippines — Instead of stop-gap measures to deal with pipe leakages, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia told officials of the Cebu Manila Water Development Incorporated (CMWDI) to come up with long term solutions instead.

In a meeting last Jan. 9 at the Capitol, Garcia pointed out to CMWDI general manager Christian Batallones that water interruptions due to pipe leakages should not be addressed with band-aid solutions.

Batallones met Gov. Garcia, as reported by the Cebu Provincial government’s information arm-Sugbo News, to inform the governor that they were supposed to implement a 12-hour water service interruption starting yesterday to give way to the 700-millimeter pipe repair leakage in Danao City.

CMWDI is a joint venture firm between the Cebu Provincial Government and Enrique Razon-led Manila Water Consortium.

It collects and treats 35 million liters daily (MLD) of surface from Carmen town’s Luyang River and sells it to Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD).

CMWDI said starting early this year, they have been losing about 2 to 3 million liters per day.

Gov. Garcia, however, strongly objected to the water service interruption, especially that more tourists are coming over at this time for the Sinulog festivities.

The water CMWDI sells benefits the towns of Compostela, Liloan, and Consolacion; as well as the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Cebu, running the length of its 34.8 km of pipeline.

Gov. Gwen stressed that a 12-hour water service interruption would be too much of a burden for consumers and business establishments in Cebu.

The governor, upon further questioning, found out that MCWDI has been over-delivering in its water commitment, registering as much as 38 MLD, which violates its agreement in the joint venture that authorizes the delivery of only 35 MLD.

“It’s rather unfair kasi kasalanan niyo to e,” Garcia told Batallones, while suspecting that the leakage may have been caused by too much pressure on the pipes designed to deliver only 35 MLD but have been made to accommodate the increased volume of 38 MLD.

Instead of repairing the leaks by welding it, Garcia suggested replacing the entire pipe segment since the latter is considering expanding the water commitment of CMWDI from 35 MLD to as much as 45 MLD as water demand in Cebu is also on the rise.

Aside from that, the governor also asked CMWDI to conduct an inventory of its pipes and come up with a plan in order to make it withstand the additional pressure of increased water volume to be produced by CMWDI.

“Let us not just build for today. Let us build for the future, for the Cebuanos 15 years from now,” Gov. Garcia said. –/ATO (FREEMAN)