Water Supply in Tejero Improves

Residents of Barangay Tejero in Cebu City expected to improve water supply in their area following the commissioning of a private well that supplies water to Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD).

The said private well is operated by Mactan Rock Industries Inc. (MRII).

MRII operated its new well in Barangay Tejero last Monday after it was awarded a bulk supply contract by MCWD for 25 years to supply 3,000 cubic meters per day.

“Our immediate action is to increase the service hours by developing in-house wells or by bidding out bulk supply contracts to private suppliers in critical areas like Tejero,” said MCWD Acting General Manager Stephen Yee.

Metro Cebu’s water demand is about 500,000 cubic meter per day but MCWD produces less than half of the demanded water supply at 238,000 cubic meter per day.

Population growth, migration, economic expansion and other factors are said to be major factors in the increase of water demand.

The cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu and the towns of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela and Cordova are places where huge water consumers come from.

Meanwhile, over-extraction, nitrate contamination and saltwater intrusion contributed to the depletion and shut down of a number of sources.

Starting August this year, MCWD lost over 20,000 cu. m. per day due to various problems encountered by its private water suppliers and the effects of the dry spell.

Short-term, medium-term and long term solutions have been planned by MCWD to resolve water supply shortage. Small scale desalinated seawater plants and a major desalinated seawater plant for the island of Mactan as well as the Mananga and Lusaran dams are part of the medium and long-term solutions.

Among the short-term solutions is the development of new wells in the affected areas. (MLC)