BACOLOD City – The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) deployed a total of 10 water tanks in several barangays here in preparation for more water supply demand.
This comes after the declaration of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geographical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) of the start of the dry season on Wednesday, March 26.
Three water tanks are currently on standby in Barangay Handumanan, two each in barangays Vista Alegre and Villamonte, and one each in barangays 27 and 28.
CDRRMO head Ana Maria Laarni Pornan said they deployed water tanks this early so that they can immediately supply water to any barangay that would request for it.
Each tank, she said, has a capacity of 2,000 liters of water.
Earlier this month, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa)-PrimeWater previously had 84 million liters a day (MLD) level of water supply in the city but it went down to only 79 MLD due to dry season.
Following this, the city government initiated measures to address water shortage in some areas across several barangays amid the extreme heat that affected sources of water supply.
The city mayor ordered the CDRRMO and the City Engineer’s Office to initiate water distribution to barangays with no or low water supply.
To help mitigate the impact, Mayor Benitez said the Baciwa-PrimeWater implemented multiple projects, including the Bacolod Bulk Water Inc. Injection Point 2 and Matab-ang Treatment Plant, that aim to improve water distribution across the north and south areas of the city.
PAGASA on Wednesday said that warmer days are expected in the coming months after it announced the end of the northeast monsoon, or amihan, which marks the start of the dry season.
“The shift of wind direction from northeasterly to easterly due to the establishment of the high-pressure area over the northwestern Pacific signifies the termination of the northeast monsoon over most parts of the country and the start of the dry season,” it said in a statement.
However, extreme northern Luzon may still experience occasional northeasterly winds. With this development, the day-to-day weather across the country will gradually become warmer, though isolated thunderstorms are also likely to occur,” it added.
Pagasa advised the public to “take precautionary measures to minimize heat stress” and “optimize the daily use of water for personal and domestic consumption.” (With reports from Philippine Daily Inquirer)/PN