The Baguio Water District (BWD) appealed to the city’s residents for utmost understanding and patience because the district is doing its best to complete all the ongoing projects to mitigate the effects of the El Nino phenomenon to the water supply.
BWD general manager Engr. Salvador M. Royeca also called on the residents for their cooperation in conserving water so that the district’s existing sources will not be overworked to ensure the steady supply of water even during the expected prolonged dry spell due to the El Nino phenomenon.
He said that some of its major water repiping and development of additional water sources have been completed which address some of the issues and concerns of consumers in highly elevated areas.
Royeca pointed out that the water district is continuously looking for additional water sources even outside the city that will be developed to meet the rapidly increasing demand for water.
Currently, BWD has more than 47,000 consumers and produces more than 40,000 cubic meters of water daily while the demand is almost close to the produced 40,000 cubic meters.
However, Royeca stipulated there are losses incurred in the course of delivering the water from the sources to the consumers thus the water district wants to continuously develop additional water sources to address these unnecessary losses and ensure the steady supply of water in the city.
The BWD official assured the consumers that all the issues and concerns being brought to their attention are being acted upon but they must be given ample time to look into their problems to identify the necessary measures that will address their issues.
Royeca stipulated that the delivery of water to highly elevated areas is really challenging and entails huge investments as it will pass through various stages before being distributed to consumers in identified critical areas.
According to him, BWD will be embarking on various short, medium and long-term programs to be able to sustain steady supply of water to consumers that include the implementation of water re-piping projects, development of more water sources inside and outside the city and the realization of the long overdue bulk water project to address the rapidly increasing demand of water.
He emphasized that compared to the lowland communities, the provision of steady supply of water to highly elevated areas is more challenging on the part of the water district because of the need to establish various stages before being able to supply the needs of residents living in the said areas like Quirino Hill, Quezon Hill where the sources of water are distant from the said places, thus, the need to develop water sources that are within the communities to lessen the needed investment for the realization of their projects.
