After 88 years, tap water will come to residents near Ipo Dam

Ipo Dam

NORZAGARAY, BULACAN, Philippines — After 88 years, the more than 3,000 homes near Ipo Dam in this town will soon have clean water pouring from their faucets upon the completion of the P150-million San Mateo Water Supply (SMWS) project of the Department Public Works and Highways (DPWH) next year.

Through the project, which broke ground on Friday, the “long suffering of the people in these communities” close to the dam will soon end, said Bulacan Rep. Salvador Pleyto.

Norzagaray Mayor Merlyn Germar said the SMWS will bring safe and clean fresh water to about 8,000 individuals in 3,000 households in Sitio Spar in Barangay Bigte and the villages of Bitungol, Minuyan, San Mateo and Matictic.

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“The road it took was so long, but now the waiting is over,” Germar said.

Pleyto and Germar joined DPWH officials led by Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo during the groundbreaking ceremony at the Metropolitan Waters and Sewerage System (MWSS) facility in Barangay Bigte.

The MWSS, a government-owned corporation manages the waterworks supply and systems for Metro Manila, Cavite and Rizal and recently including Bulacan through the Ipo Dam.

The Ipo Dam, located in Barangay San Mateo, was built in 1936 at a time when those living near the site were not given priority to be given water supply because they were only a handful of households then, said Pleyto.

But the number of residents have since grown and still no tap water supplied to them.

“I saw the people in these areas in their bare feet going out of their houses with their containers waiting to be filled up by a truck of a local private water company. During summer or dry season, when water supply is limited, many of them in the line would not be reached by the ration. Because of the hilly and mountainous areas, it is very difficult for the people to reach the water supply,” Pleyto said in an interview on Friday.

Booster pumps

Pleyto added the SMWS project is also in partnership with the MWSS, the Norzagaray Water District and the municipal government of Norzagaray for the actual distribution to the communities.

Friday’s groundbreaking was for the water treatment facility at Phase 1 that will treat the water from Ipo Dam’s aqueduct with a 75-horsepower booster pump, a 1.980-millimeter transmission pipe and a 1,000 cubic meter steel-bolted tank in Barangay San Mateo. The distribution pipes will deliver water to the community and its transmission pipes will connect to the second tank in Phase 2.

Phase 2 is another 75 horsepower booster pump that will pump 1,000 cubic meters of water to a second tank at the MWSS Lot Vianney RH, to distribute water to Barangay San Mateo Proper and Barangay Bigte’s Sitio Upper Bigte and Sitio Conpra.

Phase 3 is the installation of a 40-horsepower booster pump that will supply water to a 1,000 cubic meter steel-bolted tank at San Mateo Proper Elementary School for water distribution to San Mateo Proper, Ipo Road, St. Matthew Village and the Ipo View Deck.

“The strong horsepower pumps will bring the water supply to the further upper hilly and mountainous areas,” Pleyto said.