MCWD Assures No More Water Crisis

“Unless God allows all rivers to dry up, Cebuanos have no reason to worry about their supplies of potable water, even up to 1000 years onward.”

This was the assurance made by Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) General Manager Engr.Ernie Delco last Friday.

“We have nothing to worry about potable water supply as long as all rivers are functioning because we are now shifting our resources to adopt the surface water extraction,” Delco said.

Delco explained, MCWD has only two sources of potable water available to supply all households and population of Metro Cebu areas.

These are the so called ground water, which sources are located at the underground level, and surface water which came from the natural river or big streams from the mountains.

The MCWD, according to Delco, is now shifting to get water supplies from the surface water rather to contineuously digging the ground water as what they did for the past years since the MCWD operations existed. “We are doing this, after learning that Cebu City ground water supplies are dwindling”. Delco said.

The MCWD general manager said that the agency is just extracting 35 percent bulk of the ground water in Metro Cebu areas, while all private water companies and domestic water extractors consumed the total of 65 percent ground water.

“This is the reason why MCWD, together with the local government units (LGUs) are regulating all private and domestic water extractors,” Delco said.

He also added that unless MCWD approves, any applications of private or domestic water extractors anywhere in Metro Cebu areas or within the MCWD’s franchise area, are not allowed.

This is because of the critical situation of the ground water level here in Metro Cebu areas, according to Delco.

“Everybody must take note, that if MCWD will not take a brake from extracting the ground water, and at the same time allowing at large anybody to extract these potable water resources from the ground, in 2030 the salt water intrusion is already reaching barangay Talamban and all other Cebu City areas,” he said.

Because the MCWD has all the gadgets needed to monitor the potable water level and aware how critical its present condition, it ceased to get its supplies from the underground and shifted to the surface water extraction, no matter how expensive is the latter, Delco added.

Delco also said, in doing this target, since January this year, the MCWD got its bulk of water supplies from the municipality of Carmen, which is 45 kilometers to from Cebu City.

This is the product of the tripartite agreement entered into by MCWD,National Water Resources Board (NWRB), and LGUs allowing the lone government water supplies in Metro Cebu areas to buy surface water from any municipalities within the province.

Other areas in the province to supply surface water to MCWD are Danao City,municipality of Borbon and all who have all the year round water from natural rivers and streams within Cebu province.

“That’s why talking of fear or worry about our water supply, we appeal to the public that as long as there’s water from our rivers, MCWD will continue to supply this need to the people at all times and seasons from summer, El Niño or even during bad weather conditions,” he said.

MCWD is now supplying to a total of 165,000 households or 1.2 million people within its fracnhise areas in Metro Cebu, Delco added.

The ground water are the underground waterose which are under Delco stated that MCWD, being a government run water district in Metro Cebu areas.