An official of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) assured that recovery time of water supply is now faster with the operation of the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP).
DCWD spokesperson Jovana Cresta Duhaylungsod said this following a water interruption on Tuesday, one week after Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (AAII) announced before the City Council that it has commenced supplying water to DCWD.
“Kung itandi nimo ang kani na scenario compared sa katong wala pa ang bulk water much better ang atoang recovery time because ang ground water kasi without the bulk water ang naay shut down operations it would take us around three to five days but as of this time we can say fully recovered na ang atoang operation,” Duhaylungsod said during the AFP PNP Press Corps media briefing at the Royal Mandaya Hotel on Wednesday.
Duhaylungsod emphasized that the low water pressure experienced in the morning of Tuesday, January 16, was also part of the contingency measures on the Apo Agua side and DCWD side in place if there is ever downtime to minimize any inconvenience that may be experienced by the customers.
Apo Agua was able to resume operation at 5 p.m. of Tuesday.
On the part of DCWD, Duhaylungsod said Apo Agua has notified DCWD, which enabled them to automatically monitor their storage facilities.
“Dili na siya ingon na paandaron dayon nato ang production well because once mag shut off si Apo Agua naa pa nay nabilin sa ilahang storage facility for the treated water para makapadayon gihapon sila ug distribute and on our end we will be monitoring pud ang water level sa ilahang reservoir and our reservoir naa pud tay indicators kanus-a mu kick in ang atoang mga production wells,” she said.
She also said that DCWD still able to supply around six hours of bulk water before customers experienced low water pressure to no water supply.
Duhaylungsod also said that with the coverage of the bulk water supply from Calinan, Tugbok, Dumoy, Panacan, and Cabantian water supply systems only areas under the Dumoy system and Tugbok systems experienced low water pressure to no water supply.
“Kato gihapon mga areas na nasa elevated portion and naa sa end point sa atong operation kay natural if you also noticed yesterday kasagaran sa mga tao naa sa balay so kusog ang gamit sa tubig. Dili pud usual ang water demand sa atoang operation. Mao na naa gyud areas na nag low pressure to no water even if nagpaandar nata sa atoang mga production wells,” she said.
Duhaylungsod said Apo Agua’s system returned online Tuesday afternoon while DCWD also restored its operation where only minimal production wells were operated as of Wednesday morning although, there was still low pressure to no water but generally according to her DCWD already able to restore its water service.
Duhaylungsod also explained that the emergency interruption was due to the turbidity of the surface water source.
She explained that turbidity is part of the parameters that DCWD uses in monitoring water levels.
“It’s actually ang kalubog sa tubig. Na ana siya’y requried na level as to the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water kung unsa lang ang puwede nato i-distribute sa customers. Mao ng very careful pud ta sa pag monitor ana,” Duhaylungsod said.
She also said that the plant of Apo Agua has a threshold of what level of turbidity can enter so that they can process for water treatment.
Apo Agua, which is the builder of the state-of-the-art bulk water facility that includes a 300 million liter per day (MLD) water treatment plant with a 70-kilometer pipeline, also guarantees sustainable delivery of quality bulk water supply to six DCWD water supply systems.
