Water gushes out from a water pipe under the Kamputhaw bridge along Escario Street in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City that broke early Thursday morning, May 11, 2023. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Residents in Brgy. Kamputhaw, Cebu City woke up to some bad news – their water supply got interrupted after a transmission line burst on Thursday dawn, May 11, 2023.
The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) confirmed that a transmission line under the Kamputhaw Bridge broke around 3:39 a.m. on Thursday.
As a result, MCWD has isolated the entire Kamputhaw area, which means consumers there have no supply of running water in order to accommodate repairs.
The utility firm said they will do their best to get water running back in the village within the day (May 11).
“Paningkamoton namo nga within the day makatubig na ta ug balik,” MCWD spokesperson, Minerva Gerodias, told CDN Digital in a phone interview.
(We will try our best that they will have water supply within the day.)
MCWD currently serves at least 1,000 households in Barangay Kamputhaw.
With a major water pipe damaged, nearby areas were also affected which means consumers must brace for weak water supply in the meantime.
Some of the affected barangays included Busay and Lahug.
According to the MCWD official, they believed that pressure may have caused the pipe to burst.
The utility company was in the process of injecting additional water supply in uptown Cebu, particularly in Barangays Kamputhaw, Lahug, and Busay, from their new bulk water facility in Brgy. Lusaran.
MCWD considers Barangay Kamputhaw as one of their ‘thirsty areas,’ where water supply is intermittent.
“Hinay gyud ang pressure dinha nga lugar and naghuna-huna mi to improve the water supply dinha nga area so among gipasulod ang tubig gikan sa Lusaran,” explained Gerodias.
(Water pressure in that area is really low so we thought of improving the water supply there so we let water flow there from Lusaran.)
Although the pipe remained in good condition, MCWD believes it failed to handle high pressure from the Lusaran Bulk Water facility.
“The incident happened at dawn and not a lot were using water at that time so the pressure of the transmission line rose. That’s why it wasn’t able to handle the pressure. And that transmission line in Kamputhaw has been there for how many years now, it wasn’t used to high pressure,” she added.
In the meantime, MCWD asked affected households in Barangay Kamputhaw for patience as they try to restore their water supply. They also plan to deploy tanker trucks to provide potable water to residents there while repairs are ongoing.
/bmjo
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