Tompar tells Metro Cebu LGUs: Build gabion dams

Engineer Antonio Tompar of Mactan Rock Industries, Inc. said that building more dams in Metro Cebu’s upland areas is more beneficial than opening more roads there. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Build more dams in Metro Cebu’s mountains, not roads.

This is the long term solution that Engineer Antonio Tompar, the President of Mactan Rock Industries, Inc., is proposing to address Cebu’s water crisis.

“If we are able to harness the surface water in the rivers through the (construction of) gabion dams in the uplands, that can sustain Metro Cebu during the rainy season. Then, we no longer have to use groundwater.  It (groundwater) can be used during the summer (months),” Tompar said during the 888 Forum held this morning, October 15, in a Cebu City hotel.

Tompar is urging  Local Government Units to realign their allocation for infrastructure projects into building more dams in the mountains. He said that having more dams there is more beneficial than having more roads that are even barely used.

He said that gabion dams may be built in the upstreams of the seven major river systems in Metro Cebu. These are the Butuanon, Cotcot, Subangdaku, Kumputhaw, Guadalupe, Mananga, and Lahug rivers.

While Metro Cebu is now faced with a water crisis, surface water in the upstreams have remained under utilized, Tompar said.

However, he said that this kind of an undertaking will require national government intervention because of its huge funding requirement.

Read More: Cebu City Council ‘dismayed’ at MCWD over state of water supply

Tompar is also urging Metro Cebu LGUs to set aside their differences with the officials of the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) so they can agree on more sufficient and sustainable solutions to the water crisis.

Mactan Rock supplies 10,000 cubic meters of desalinated water to MCWD on a daily basis.  This was in addition to water that MCWD would also get from other sources, yet their available water supply is still not enough to meet the current demand of their 193, 000 metered connections.

With the heat spike that was experienced during the later part of September to the early part of October, MCWD’s supply dropped to only 217, 000 cubic meters per day which is 22,000 cubic meters less than their daily supply average.

Shortage in water prompted Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella to form a Water Advisory Council that is tasked to help address the current water crisis.

Read More: Cebu City mayor creates water advisory committee to address water shortage issues

Charmaine Kara, MCWD spokesperson, said during the 888 forum that both their Jaclupan and Buhisan dams are now experiencing below average water supply which is also causing low to no water pressure in their service areas in Talisay City and Cebu City’s south district.

But Kara gave the assurance that MCWD’s management is also doing their best to address the water shortage. She said that they are now considering three major solutions to Metro Cebu’s water problems. This includes the establishment of the Mananga and Lusaran dams and a plan to establishment more water desalinated plants that will be operated by Mactan Rock.

Contrary to perception, Tompar said that desalinated water is not at all very costly.

Labella earlier voiced his opposition to MCWD’s plan to increase the volume of their desalinated water supply because of reports that this would be costly at P90 per cubic meters.

Tompar said that Mactan Rock can provide MCWD with cheap water at only P20 per cubic meter which is very affordable especially to household consumers.

He said that they could extract brackish water from Metro Cebu’s coastal areas for processing at their desalination plants.  He said that having abundant water supply is even expected to further bring down the cost of potable water. / dcb