Water crisis grips parts of Oro, Opol

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

A WATER crisis has been affecting thousands of families in some western areas of the city up to neighboring Opol town in Misamis Oriental as a result of  the Cagayan de Oro Water District’s crippled operations at a production well in Balulang.

Engr. Tony Young, COWD production manager, said a water pump installed at Production Well 25 broke off and fell 200 meters down the major water source, halting the COWD operations in Balulang.

Young said the accident resulted in a water shortage that started to be felt on Sunday.

He said water has been scarce in elevated areas especially in barangays Patag, Bulua, Iponan all the way to Opol in Misamis Oriental.

Another COWD engineer, Elezar Linaac Jr., told the Gold Star Daily the water pump fell due to “wear and tear.”

As a result, the daily water supply here is 7,200 cubic meters less, said Young.

COWD officials said it would take at least 10 days from Wednesday to repair the damages at the Balulang production well.

Engr. Linaac said it would take at least a week for a supplier to deliver the water pump to the COWD.

“Orderon pa na,” he told the Gold Star Daily on Wednesday morning.

Engr. Benvienido Batar, COWD assistant manager, placed the damages at over P2 million.

In the meantime, Batar said, COWD contracted bulk water supplier Rio Verde Water Consortium Inc. for an additional 7,200-cubic meter supply for 10 days.

Batar said Rio Verde started pumping an additional 300 cubic meters of potable water per hour into the COWD system at 1 pm on Wednesday. He said this would go on for 24 hours a day during the 10-day period.

COWD would pay Rio Verde P10.45 for every cubic meter (P3,135 per hour or P72,240 per day or   P752,400 for 10 days).

Batar said he was optimistic that the COWD operations at the Balulang production well would normalize within 10 days.

Batar said the COWD would put in place a new 105-hp submersible water pump at the production well to be able to draw 7,200 cubic meters a day from the well.

The affected areas in the western part of the city, including Opol town, require a water supply of 80 thousand cubic meters a day. Batar said 40 thousand cubic meters were already being pumped in by Rio Verde while the remainder comes from COWD’s water sources.

Meanwhile, Young said some areas may still suffer from water supply interruption from time to time during the 10-day period.

Young and Linaac said Rio Verde was having problems with the water quality of Bobonawan River. Its water has become too murky because of downpours in the uplands.