Death’s elixir

It’s a pity that fresh water in Tuburan, midwestern Cebu, supposedly a tourist attraction, have become vectors of death, killing four and hitting dozens of townsfolk.

Results of water tests by the Department of Health (DOH) are still pending but the casual observer can easily point to contamination as the reason drinking water has led to a typhoid outbreak in town.

Haven’t authorities learned their lessons from the outbreak that hit Alegria town in Cebu’s southwest last year?

Why do we have yet another case of health officials checking the water quality after it once more proved antithetical to the adage, “Water is life”?

Government is being reactive, as usual, distributing or planning to distribute medicines and install chlorinators in Tuburan’s sources of drinking water.

Shall government forever settle for acts that prove officials too late the hero?

The town also faces the problem of the regular absence of the doctor from the nearest hospital. Residents have complained that they rarely have anyone to turn to for medical consultations.

The only solution to preventing an outbreak like this is proactivity. The provincial government and the DOH need to get their acts together and hold municipal and city health officials responsible for conducting regular inspections of water sources in the localities.

Toilet practices across the island need to be standardized. Toilets and septic tanks should not be built anywhere near springs or aquifers. Water distribution firms should be made responsible for ensuring the functionality of chlorinators on pain of penalties.

It is bad enough that in this age of global warming, Cebu island is chronically short of potable water. The people should not have to face a double whammy.

Water shortage kills. A typhoid epidemic caused by dirty water exterminates.