The Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) has implemented a water rationing scheme in selected areas effective Saturday in light of the considerable reduction in the water supply.
This came after the water level at the Pasonanca reservoir went down by 0.14 meters from the normal level of 74.2 meters.
“Our water treatment plant in Pasonanca that sources water from the Tumaga River is still at a rated capacity but we were also in critical level at 74.06 meters. Our normal level should be at 74.2 meters,” said Marlie Acosta-de Fiesta, ZCWD OIC-assistant general manager for technical services, in a statement.
Affected by the initial water rationing scheme are 15 barangays within the seven-kilometer radius. Some will have water for as long as 13 hours while the shortest is seven hours.
De Fiesta said the water supply from Prime Water and other sources in the city has gone down to as much as 62 percent, warranting the implementation of a water rationing scheme in order to serve as many residents as possible.
She said Prime Water, a bulk water supplier based in Barangay Pamucutan, started reducing supply on February 24, which worsened on February 27 when they went down by 24 percent and could only provide 38 million liters per day (MLD).
However, she said Prime Water was able to recover 39 MLD and was at full capacity due to last Monday’s rain.
The supply for the barrio water systems spread in different areas of the city also significantly dropped, according to De Fiesta.
De Fiesta said the production from the Dumalon water system in Sitio Dumalon, Barangay Baluno, was down by 45 percent, providing water to eight barangays in its service area at just 50 percent of its rated capacity.
Other water systems are also under the same state with the Tolosa water system down by 25 percent, the Lumayang water system off by six percent, and the Vitali sources by 22 percent.
The Camalig source recorded the biggest decrease in the water supply at 62 percent.
“So we have implemented rotational service water in its service area and [the schedule] was published a few weeks ago,” De Fiesta said.
Meanwhile, the ZCWD has put into operation 13 of its 18 production wells to augment water production.
“Five operational wells are on standby. The moment there will be a reduction in supply, we will operate those production wells,” De Fiesta said.
Source: Philippines News Agency