BAGUIO Water District (BWD) General Manager Engr. Salvador Royeca said the district has been working round-the-clock to boost the supply to problematic areas, particularly those located in elevated locations.
BWD has recently completed a project to augment the supply of water to parts of Barangays Pinget, Pinsao, Fairview, Magsaysay, Quirino Hill, and Tam-awan that are experiencing reduced water supply.
The interconnection project was established at the Old Lucban deepwell which became operational as of April 7 as the Buyog and Pinsao wells are seeing lower water levels.
With the new lines in place, water will be diverted from the BWD Malvar deepwell and moved to augment the Old Lucban deepwell to serve the six barangays.
According to the BWD, the Buyog and Pinsao deepwells, which also serve the same territories alongside the Old Lucban deepwell, have shown gradually reduced water yields, which led to lower water supply in the North and Northeastern portions of Baguio City.
With the lowered yield in the two wells, the BWD has also activated a contingency to refill certain tanks with BWD water trucks in order to ensure a steady supply.
Royeca said the district is also working on installing additional lines coming from the Valenzuela new deep well and this will enhance supply to surrounding establishments and households.
The district conducted a special diversion program for the problematic site of Sunnyside in Fairview barangay and as of latest monitoring, ample supply was provided even in areas with the highest elevation.
Royeca said water augmentation by tapping from supply points that have more than adequate yield is one of the measures adopted by the district to continually supply the elevated areas that bear the brunt of the shortage.
He said long-term solutions continue to be pursued like exploration works and commissioning of more deep wells.
By next year, the district expects to complete the water tapping project at Km. 8 going to Asin which once realized will be able to serve the water needs of Km. 4 which at present has no existing water source.
He said these measures will continue to be pursued as the city prepares for the expected El Nino phenomenon expected to occur later this year.
Royeca and BWD Board Chair Rene Rondez assured that the BWD management is doing its best to avert shortages in face of the declining yield of the city’s water sources due to lack of rain and other factors like the uncontrolled operation of illegal deep wells and over-extraction by the permitted ones which harms the city’s water table.
Also, an artificial increase in water demand is currently being experienced due to the influx of tourists, returning residents, and transients.
“Rest assured that the BWD management is doing all that it can. We will gladly address specific concerns,” the BWD top brass said.
The district’s average daily water production is 60,000 cubic meters and during peak season, the average water demand is around 65,000-66,000 cubic meters daily.
Seventy percent of water extracted comes from the deep wells, 20 percent from watersheds particularly Busol, Buyog and Camp 8 watersheds) and ten percent from other open sources.
The BWD has a total of 46,726 active connections being supplied by its 77 pumping stations, 63 deep wells, four open/spring sources and two rainwater harvesting facilities. – with a report from PIO
