BAGUIO City will be testing an artificial groundwater recharge facility in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology Cordillera office (DOST-CAR), the environment department’s Watershed and Water Research and Development Council (WWRDC), and the University of the Cordilleras (UC).
The plan would see the catching and filtering of rainwater flowing down from the roof cover of the swimming pool at Burnham Park that will then be injected into the underground aquifers of Baguio through a P2.5 million injection well to be funded by the local government.
The facility will be tested and studied for two years, during which it will be operated and monitored by the local government, and potentially replicated elsewhere in the city should it prove effective.
Initial studies indicate that the annual rainfall seen by the city can reach up to 4,064 milliliters annually, which ranks among some of the highest in the entire country.
As such, the city will prove to be an appropriate testing ground for the artificial, real-time aquifer recharge system that will speed up the process of recharging the groundwater supplies available in the city’s aquifers, a process that can take years to accomplish naturally.
The Baguio Water District (BWD) previously warned of a potential water shortage in the city when the city both failed to fill the Sto. Tomas rainwater reservoir prior to the rainy season, as well as failing to meet groundwater recharge targets in mid-March.
