BY: FAYETTE C. RIÑEN
CEBU CITY, June 3 (PIA) – Water supply in Metro Cebu is still sufficient but the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) warned that conservation measures must be adopted now to mitigate the impact the El Niño phenomenon might bring.
Engr. Lasaro Salvacion, manager of the Environment and Water Resource Department of MCWD in a media briefing yesterday bared there are two major sources of water for Metro Cebu, which are surface and ground water.
The latter is expected to be less affected by El Niño compared to the surface source but still faces danger of getting into a critical level in case the phenomenon drags on for a long time causing drought.
“Water deduction in the ground source has already reached 40 percent level,” said Salvacion.
Another factor that causes the drain of water supply in Metro Cebu is the water usage by the business sector, said Salvacion adding the growth in the number of establishments means a rising number of people and corresponding operations requiring a huge quantity of water supply.
The MCWD official urged the public to adopt water conservation measures by recycling water used from laundry to clean the house and cars and likewise, to strictly check on leaks water pipes to prevent water wastage.
Salvacion pointed out another problem which is the over distribution of water by the refilling stations. “This is one of the main problems faced by Metro Cebu,” because more water is used and often wasted since refilling stations accommodate a large quantity of consumers causing water supply to undergo its limitations.
“In order to prevent the problem, the LGU should control the distribution of water in every refilling station. LGUs should also have an inventory of all refilling stations in their area and regulate water extraction to prevent the drying of water resources,” said Salvacion.
Solomon Paypa, a representative from a local government unit who attended the briefing suggested that information drive be intensified. “LGUs should tap the barangay captains as well as other local officials to solve the problem”, said Paypa in regulating over distribution by water refilling stations.
Salvacion said the briefing was done to prepare the public and help mitigate the effects that will be caused by El Nino. (mbcn/FCR/PIA7 with reports from Kristal Eduyan, PIT intern)