Iloilo City, 4 towns to go dry 3 days
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:24:00 01/07/2009
Filed Under: Water Supply, Water Supplies
ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Residents of Iloilo City and four neighboring towns will have little or no water supply for three days starting Thursday due to the repair and upgrading of facilities damaged by typhoon “Frank” in 2008.
The Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), the sole water distributor for the city, services more than 30,000 connections in the seven districts of Iloilo City and the towns of Cabatuan, Leganes, Maasin, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel and Sta. Barbara.
Edgar Calasara, MIWD officer-in-charge, said in a statement that the water utility would shut down its operations to undertake inter-connection repairs, construction and upgrading of supply lines and improve water supply.
These include the inter-connection of a bypass line in Barangay (Village) Buntalan in Maasin town with a 24-inch pipeline in Amerang village in Cabatuan town. The MIWD is also conducting dredging operations at its ground reservoir to clear sand and silt deposits.
Aside from Iloilo City, the towns of Pavia, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan and Maasin will also be affected by the water service shutdown.
MIWD extracts water from the Tigum River through an intake dam in Daja village in Maasin, 29.5 kilometers northwest of Iloilo City. It also gets its supply from 10 pumping stations at deep wells in Pavia, Oton and San Miguel. It normally produces 45,000 cubic meters daily or 1.3 million monthly.
But the massive flooding triggered by typhoon Frank on July 21, 2008, the worst to hit Iloilo in recent years, severely affected water supply.
MIWD has implemented a water rationing system, rotating its supply to concessionaires. Businesses, including hotels and restaurants, have been complaining over the cost of hauling water to their establishments.
The flooding damaged the Badon Bridge in Amerang village in Cabatuan, resulting in the cutting off of the 600-mm main transmission line laid out beside the bridge. The storm also damaged the structure of the intake dam in Maasin.
Damage to the main transmission line, which supplies 75 percent of the water to the treatment plant in Sta. Barbara town, has significantly reduced water supply by at least 40 percent to Iloilo City and the towns of Cabatuan, Sta. Barbara and Pavia.
The damage to the main transmission line and intake dam has reached P35 million, according to an MIWD briefing paper.
Calasara said the completion of the repairs and upgrading would improve the water supply by 50 to 80 percent.
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