MCWD gets extra water from Carmen river

With water levels  dropping in its Jaclupan dam this summer, the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) is turning to additional surface water from a river in Carmen town, north Cebu.

An additional 6,000 cubic meters daily has been received since last week from the private  consortium handling the Carmen bulk water project.

The water was delivered to the injection point of MCWD in Consolacion town.

“Water supply is not a problem since the contractor can deliver. It’s just pressure management,” MCWD chairman Rene Mercado told reporters  yesterday.

The  Cebu Manila Water Dev. Corp. interconnected its system with MCWD  in January and has the potential of delivering  35 million liters a day.

MCWD has been issuing public advisories to conserve water as the dry spell has caused low water pressure in several parts of Cebu City such as Banawa, Jones Ave., barangay Capitol site in Cebu City and several barangays of  Talisay City/

MCWD general manager Ernie Delco said the Jaclupan dam is producing only half of its output of 33,000 cubic meters.

“To be exact Jaclupan is only producing 16,000 cubic meters per day and that’s an abnormal drop. This is worse than the 2010 drought. This is because this El Niño started last year,” Delco said.

More consumers

During summer months, the Jaclupan dam can produce 25,000 to 28,000 cubic meters of water a day, said Delco.

He said MCWD  started receiving the additional 6,000 cubic meters from Carmen town last week.

“Right now, we’re still observing the effects of the additional water in the cities. Our initial observation is that the water pressure continues to drop since there are more consumers along the way,” Delco said.

He said they’re considering using part of the 20,000 cubic meters generated daily from their well in Talamban to supply the  Capitol and Banawa areas to ease the demand on the Jaclupan dam.

Production

The Talamban well is servicing the areas of Talamban in Cebu City, Canduman, Maguikay and Cabancalan in Mandaue City.

That way, Delco said the additional 6,000 cubic meters from Carmen will instead be used to bolster the supply gap  in the areas of Talamban and Mandaue.

Based on the MCWD’s daily water advisories last month, they were able to exceed their water production in relation to the total demand of water.

In March 20 alone, they were able to reserve 10,127 cubic meters of water since their actual production that day reached 223,878 cubic meters.

But this continued to decrease until they recorded a deficit starting early April.

Deficit

Last April 8, they recorded a deficit of 12,503 cubic meters as their actual production was only 205,626 cubic meters.

Delco said last April 20, MCWD recorded a deficit of only 8,163 cubic meters.

That day, they had an actual production of 209,965 cubic meters compared to the demand of 218,128 cubic meters.

The other day, April 27, MCWD’s total actual production was 208,856 cubic meters.

But the demand that day reached 218,128 cubic meters or a deficit of 9,272 cubic meters.

Based on their daily water advisory that day, the decrease of Jaclupan dam’s water levels affected portions of Talisay City in the south and central Cebu City including elevated areas.

“It is recommended to residents along these areas to store water during off-peak hours,” an MCWD advisory read.