MCWD to get more water supply soon

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By Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon (The Freeman)

CEBU, Philippines — The Metropolitan Cebu Water District is expecting an additional 20,000 cubic meters of water supply daily to address the supply and demand gap within its service area.

MCWD spokesperson Charmaine Rodriguez-Kara said the additional water supply will come from their three bulk supply projects which are expected to be completed before the year ends and early next year.

Kara said the Mambaling Bulk Supply Project will give an additional 5,000 cubic meters every day. It is scheduled to start production before the year ends. She said that consumers from the central part of Cebu City who are experiencing low pressure to no water during peak demand hours will benefit the project.

The two other supply projects which were already bid out are the Lawaan Bulk Supply and Mactan Bulk Supply. Lawaan has a production capacity of 10,000 cu. m. per day while Mactan has 5,000 cu. m. capacity per day.

"With these three new sources, the water district plans to lay new pipes to bring water to areas with inadequate supply or set up new booster stations or improve some of its booster pumps to meet the increasing demand for water in different areas in Metro Cebu," Kara said in a statement.

MCWD acting general manager Noel Dalena said the three new projects are in addition to the Danao Bulk Supply Project, which is already in the construction phase and will bring in an additional 10,000 cu. m. per day in 2019. The volume will increase to 20,000 cu. m. per day after two years as per MCWD’s 20-year contract with Danao City.

"Apart from the ongoing projects, MCWD continues to search for more new sources and will bid these out soon to address the gap between the supply and demand,” Dalena added.

Currently, MCWD is serving only 50 percent of the demand in its service area. Other water users have their own groundwater wells or are being served by private water suppliers.

As of this week, MCWD’s daily production is at 227,000 cu. m. per day with its surface water sources in Jaclupan, Talisay City and Buhisan Dam in Cebu City, giving a normal to above normal production amid the heavy downpours in Metro Cebu in the pastdays.The two sources have a combined production of about 40,000 cu. m. per day.

With the infusion of additional volume, MCWD’s challenge is to manage the distribution to satisfy customers and to maintain or bring down losses or Non-Revenue Water (NRW). MCWD targets to bring down its NRW to 15 percent by 2020.

The Lawaan Bulk Supply project will increase the volume in Metro Cebu-south and the distribution plan will include bringing the existing supply to as far as parts of north Cebu that are experiencing low pressure to no water during peak hours.

The Mactan Bulk Supply project, which will use desalination technology, will increase MCWD’s capacity to supply to existing and new customers in Mactan Island.