ILOILO City – If water becomes scarce due to the El Niño phenomenon, the city government would be rationing water.
Mayor Jose Espinosa III directed the General Services Office (GSO) to account city government-owned water tanks.
The city government used to have 50 water tanks but around 15 were donated to northern Iloilo in the aftermath of super typhoon “Yolanda” in November 2013.
“Para maka-distribute kita sa mga affected barangays,” said Espinosa.
A total of 38 water tanks were accounted for as of March 22.
Iloilo City has 180 barangays.
Espinosa said the city government is also looking into the manner of water rationing and possible sources of water to be rationed.
“Lantawon ta kun magbakal kita. There should be bidding nga mechanics guro kun mabakal kita pero kun donation sang aton fire brigade or kun diin pa gid kita makakuha sang tubig,” he said.
The water for rationing must be potable, Espinosa added.
He urged residents to conserve water.
Today, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council that Espinosa chairs will hold an El Niño pre-disaster risk reduction assessment.
The city was placed under a “state of imminent water crisis” in 2007 and 2015 due to drought and was declared under a “state of water crisis” in 2009.
WATER PLANT UPGRADE
Meanwhile, the upgrading of the water treatment plant of Metro Iloilo Bulk Water Supply Corp. (MIB) is seen to also help combat the adverse effects of the El Niño phenomenon in the city.
MIB is the joint venture company between Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) and Metro Pacific Water (MPW). It is currently upgrading its water treatment plant’s design capacity from 37 million liters per day (MLD) to 50 MLD.
The month-long rehabilitation started on Feb. 26. Target date of completion is before March 31.
In its climate outlook for the year, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (Pagasa) stated that the El Niño will likely to continue until the April-May-June 2019 period.
Eng. Rolixto Jodieres Jr., chief operating officer of MIB, said all production facilities of MIB have standby power generators to combat longer power interruptions during the dry season.
“These generators will provide buffer power so MIB could deliver consistently even without the electricity from local electric cooperatives,” said Jodieres.
MIB has also tapped the services of small bulk water providers to augment its water supply during the dry season.
“We already completed the construction of the infiltration gallery. This is the source of the additional raw water supply. This infiltration gallery has a design capacity of at least 10 MLD,” Jodieres said.
The water treatment plant upgrade is part of the development programs in the pipeline following the finalization of the joint venture project of MPW and MIWD in December 2018.
This paved the way for the P12.3-billion water facility upgrades in Iloilo City that will ensure access to safe and potable water of around 1.4 million people living in Metro Iloilo in the next 25 years./PN
