Outages prompt DCWD to buy gensets

By Cheneen R. Capon
The Davao City Water District (DCWD) has earmarked P20 million for the purchase of two mobile generation sets this year to counter the adverse effect of rotating blackouts enforced by the Davao Light and Power Company, Inc. (DLPC) due to unstable power supply.
Lawyer Bernardo Delima, DCWD spokesman, told reporters covering the Kapehan saDabaw media forum Monday, this is the least the water district can do to minimize stoppage of water distribution, since more than 90 percent of the water of the district is generated by power driver pumping station, and only less than 10 percent from gravity.
The DCWD pumping stations also stop generating water when there is a blackout.
“The longer the blackout, the longer the water interruption,” the DCWD spokesperson said .
Delima said most affected pumping stations are those in the eastern sides of the city, including those in Sasa, Panacan, Lasang experience low to no water supply due to blackouts.
Actually the management of the water district had considered purchasing a big number of generating sets but the cost is staggering.
He said some P500 million is needed if the district buy all the generating sets needed to run all the pumping stations.
The project is expensive, considering that the generating sets, which are already expensive by themselves, would need switching stations and additional pieces of land to acquired to accommodate huge machines.
While the Davao City’s power situation could have improved in the past days with the completed repair of the 150-megawatt Unit 1 of the Therma South, Inc. (TSI), he said, the purchase of the mobile generator sets will improve DCWD’s water supply service to its more than 200,000 client households.
“Our study revealed that each generator sets will cost P6 million totalling to P12 million,” he said. “ We’re targeting to have the mobile gensets within this year. Procurement process for the equipment will take four months.”
Delima said the DCWD purchased only two mobile gensets to ensure its operations will not be interrupted by blackouts.
“It will be only delivered and used in pumping stations located in aread affected by power interruptions,” he added.
The water district, he said, limited its purchase to only two because most of its pumping stations will be put into rest once the Davao City bulk water project of the Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (AAII) and DCWD become operational by 2019.
“The units will only become white elephants if we will add on top of the two gensets,”he added.
While the rest of the P20-million budget will be used for civil works.
Meanwhile, the market has been clamoring for DCWD to have its own power source aside from the DLPC.
However, the water district had been firm in the past years that it was not an option to acquire gensets for each pumping stations.