Cebu Water District Still Has Enough Supply

Although water level in its two dams are now in critical level due to the mild El Niño phenomenon, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) still has sufficient supply for its customers.

Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara, MCWD Public Affairs manager, told the Philippine News Agency on Thursday that the MCWD has other water sources aside from the Buhisan Dam and Jaclupan Dam, where the effects of the drought have manifested.

Kara said MCWD gets the bulk of its water supply from private suppliers and most of them are not affected by the dry spell.

“As of now, we still have enough water supply as we also have several ground water wells. In fact, our total production yesterday (Wednesday, March 13) was 2,000 cubic meters higher than the previous day,” Kara said.

The MCWD produced 228 cubic meters of water last Tuesday and 230,000 cubic meters on Wednesday.

However, as the water levels in Buhisan and Jaclupan dams have reached critical level, the MCWD had to resort to rationing in areas serviced by the two reservoirs.

“We have to balance our distribution in these areas. Consumers served by Buhisan and Jaclupan will have to endure fewer service hours,” said Kara.

Service hours for the low-lying parts of the affected areas are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for residents in the elevated areas.

As of Thursday, March 14, the Buhisan Dam can only produce 1,400 cubic meters per day, which is much lesser than its regular 5,000-cu.m. production.

On the other hand, the Jaclupan Dam, which has a daily production of 33,000 cubic meters, is now only producing 24,500 cubic meters a day.

Kara also said they will be deploying water tankers to provide water to their consumers affected by service interruption in areas where MCWD is currently doing repairs on connection leakages.

The MCWD is the major water service provider in Metro Cebu. (PNA)