MCWD brings water to Bonbon

By: Jose Santino S. Bunachita August 25,2014 - 08:35 AM

Bonbon barangay captain Eduardo Cabriana (Left) shakes hands with Sumi Yukiyasu of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) representative (center) and Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) Production & Distribution Manager Astrophel Logarta (right). (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)

Since she was a child, Irish Abapo would fetch water from the Mananga River in the mountain barangay of Bonbon in Cebu City for her family’s daily needs.

They don’t bother boiling the water before drinking since they see that the water is clear.

“Naanad na pud siguro mi. Wala ra man pud mi nangaunsa (We’re used to it already. We didn’t get sick from drinking the water),” said the 28-year-old Abapo who lives in sitio Biasong with her husband and three children.

Now the Abapo family and 400 other households of barangay Bonbon have access to potable water after the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) installed a mobile siphon tank (MST).

The MST is a water purifying equipment donated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to filter water from the Mananga River and provide drinking water to the residents of the area.

The facility was opened last Friday and will stay there until the MCWD can develop the Mananga River as surface water source for the mountain barangay.

Pilot area

“We hope the local community will enjoy quality water and we hope this system will be sustained,” said Sumi Yukiyasu, JICA Project Formulation Advisor for Water and Solid Waste Management during last Friday’s launching.

He said the same MST was used in Daanbantayan to supply water to residents after last year’s supertyphoon Yolanda.

MCWD Acting Asst. General Manager for Operations Astrophel Logarta said that among the reasons they chose barangay Bonbon as a pilot area for the system is the request of barangay officials for MCWD to expand their services to the area barangay.

Logarta said the area also has ample source of surface water from the Mananga River that can be filtered by the machine.

“We don’t expect profit from this. We are just trying to fulfil our mandate as a water district,” Logarta said.

Meantime, the MCWD will also conduct a market study in the area to know if households are interested to have an MCWD water connection.

If it runs for 24 hours, Logarta said the MST can filter 480 cubic meters which is enough to sustain 500 households in a day.

The MST draws water from the river and stores it in a plastic tank before it goes through the filtering station and stored in a tank.

Requirements

“Dako kaayo mig pasalamat ani. Daghan man gyud mga lumulupyo nga interesado magpa-connect sa MCWD pero wala pa gyud miabot diri. Maayo na lang karon (We’re very thankful with this. A lot of residents are interested to connect with MCWD but it hasn’t reach our barangay. Good thing it now has),” Bonbon barangay captain Eduardo Cabriana said.

The MCWD is expecting to receive another MST to be donated by JICA at the end of September this year. Logarta said they’re planning to install it in barangay Budlaan which also has a surface water source.

The Cebu City government has a relocation site in barangay Budlaan.

During its regular session last week, the Cebu City Council passed a resolution requesting the MCWD to establish a water connection at Kapasar Relocation Site in barangay Budlaan for the families relocated in the area.

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