An official of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) bared on Tuesday that the agency’s projects in the pipeline, which are targeted to be completed in 2033, will cover 143 barangays in Davao City and will be catering to the water needs of 2.3 million Dabawenyos.
According to Mildred G. Aviles, general manager of DCWD, with this increase in service connections, they are anticipating a water demand of 606,000 cubic meters per day.
Currently, DCWD covers 117 of the 182 barangays in Davao City.
Aviles said as of October 2024, DCWD operates 13 Water Supply Systems, serving around 260,000 service connections, 87% of which are residential in Davao City, and with this service coverage, DCWD is already providing water to 66% of Davao City’s total population.
Aviles said part of DCWD’s plans to accomplish from the current year to 2033 is to develop additional storage facilities, and more water sources, lay additional pipelines, and expand the reach to nearby cities and municipalities that have challenges in securing water sources.
“In our development plan, this is the direction of our water service in 2033. Note that this expansion is aligned with the development trajectory of Davao City as stipulated in the local government’s development plan until 2045,” Aviles said during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas.
Aviles said to achieve this, DCWD would need P21.4 billion in CAPEX (capital expenditures) which will be generated through the water bill payments that the agency collects from its customers.
DCWD is a Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC) that does not get any funding from the local and national government.
Meanwhile, Aviles reported that in 2024, DCWD customers are enjoying abundant, reliable, affordable, and safe water supply with 95% of the customers enjoying 24/7 availability.
She said for the remaining 5%, although there may be instances of low water pressure to no water within the day, these customers still get water supply within the 24-hour time frame estimated to be around 12-18 hours.
In February 2024, DCWD was able to augment its water supply through a joint venture with a bulk water supplier, the Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc.
“As a water service provider, among our priorities is to develop dependable sources that we can tap,” Aviles said.
She said with the combined capacity of both DCWD’s groundwater and surface water sources, DCWD’s production capacity stands at 709,000 cubic meters per day.
Aviles said on average, DCWD only utilizes 370,000 cubic meters per day or 52% of its available supply, and of this, 25% is generated from groundwater sources and 75% from surface water.
“This means that we have 48% of our production capacity or 345,000 cubic meters as a reserve. The reserve water comes from our groundwater sources since we are only operating 30 of the 74 production wells. This strategy aims to allow our aquifers to replenish so we can prevent the irreversible damaging effects of over-extraction of groundwater,” she said.
To improve their water supply availability, DCWD has lined up mainline improvement projects complemented with operational adjustments.
Aviles also said that DCWD also puts a premium on ensuring water safety and security.
“Water quality is among our top priorities. That is why we have procedures in place to ensure water safety from the source to the customers,” she said.
She cited DCWD’s state-of-the-art water quality laboratory which has strict quality control measures in place that analyze and monitor the Physical Chemical and Microbiological properties of Water.
“The primary goal is to guarantee that the water we provide meets the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water, the benchmark for drinking water safety in the country. To sustain our water resources, we have been protecting and rehabilitating the watersheds identified to replenish our sources through the Integrated Watershed Management Program,” Aviles said.
She said through this program, DCWD has already fully rehabilitated 1,455 or 93% of the combined project sites in Mt. Talomo-Lipadas, Malagos, and Mt. Tipolog-Tamugan with the help of the community partners that reside in the project sites.
