HEAT COST RISES

Cauliflowers grown by farmer Ruben Presbitero in Barangay Sirao are stunted as heat intensifies and water sources in the barangay dry up. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

The call for massive water conservation in Cebu City and province grew louder yesterday as the number of areas in Metro Cebu that have little or no water supply have doubled, affecting over 80 barangays — from Talisay City in the south to Liloan in the north on the mainland; and most of Mactan Island.

The months of low rainfall and intense heat have likewise taken its toll on 22 of the province’s 51 local government units, which reported dramatic drop in agricultural production, particularly mangoes and vegetables, with initial damage now placed at around P186 million, the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) reported yesterday.

The fifth district accounted for about 90 percent of the damage at P172 million, mostly involving mango farms in Compostela town, the report showed.

Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said that with the province’s limited funds, they would need to prioritize assistance and address the needs first of badly hit areas. Capitol last week allotted P34 million as its Quick Response Fund (QRF) after the whole province was placed under the state of calamity.

In Metro Cebu, there was no clear estimates yet as to the number of households and establishments confronted with low water pressure or no water, but Charmaine Kara, public affairs head of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD), said that among those affected were the resorts in Lapu-lapu City and the town of Cordova, both on Mactan Island.

An advisory released yesterday by MCWD said the water supply in about 80 barangays in Metro Cebu were running out of water, eight of which were in Talisay City, 49 in Cebu City, 10 in Lapu-Lapu City, all 13 barangays in Cordova and a still undetermined number of interior and elevated areas in Liloan would experience little or no water, as supply sources of MCWD have also been affected by the dry spell.

The water district said that as of April 18, its daily water deficit had gone up from 19,000 cubic meters to 20,000 cu.m., resulting to low pressure or no water in some elevated areas, some interior portions or those at the tip of MCWD’s distribution system.

These areas would need to store water during off peak hours (10 p.m. to 5 a.m.) that would be good for a 24-hour use by a given household or establishment, the advisory said.

The Cebu City government has formed the “Water is life” task force that started distributing water to affected areas but, so far, could only serve around 30 percent of these areas, officials said.

To address the water needs in the remaining 70 percent of the affected areas, the task force formed two teams to attend to the needs in the city’s two districts.

For the north district, Department of Public Services (DPS) head Dionisio Gualiza was assigned to oversee the distribution of drinking water while Sto. Niño Barangay Captain Pancho Raminez would take care of water distribution for other domestic use. In the south, Tisa Barangay Captain Philip Zafra, also president of the city’s Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), would oversee the drinking water distribution while that for domestic water would be supervised by Harold Alcontin of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC).

The distribution scheme was reached during a meeting yesterday among representatives from MCWD, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Bureau of Fire Protection, and Pilipinas Water Resources Inc.(PWRI).

City legal officer Jerone Castillo, the overall head of Task Force Water is Life, said PWRI has a standby water supply but City Hall still has to secure vehicles and containers that could bring the water to the badly affected mountain barangays.

He said the city government would ask for donations of water containers from private companies and would be meeting with water tanker owners to secure their help in the water distribution. The task force also planned to enlist local water bottlers, like Nature Spring, in supplying water to the affected areas, he added.

To ensure the safety of the water being distributed, city and barangay health workers would be asked to visit the barangays to educate the people on proper water storage.

Castillo also clarified that they would distribute water to all affected areas, regardless of political color.

Davide, meanwhile, said he would ask the Provincial Board to approve a supplemental budget of a still unspecified amount if the QRF would not be enough to help all areas in the province affected by the dry spell.

However, PDRRMO head Baltazar Tribunalo Jr. clarified that of the P34 million in QRF, only around P20 million could be used to address the adverse effects of the dry spell as the rest of the funding would be reserved for other calamities that might affect the province for the rest of the year.

He said the figure presented by the CPRAT, which showed 22 towns were affected by the dry spell, was also only partial as they still have to complete the data gathering.

In a report presented to the PB yesterday, Tribunalo said the damage to the agricultural sector included zero germination, stunted growth, wilting, and non-harvesting of crops. He said water supply has become so scarce in many areas in the province that it had resulted to some water-related conflicts among residents. Tribunalo, however, did not present specific data to back this report. According to Tribunalo, more than a hundred hectares of farm lands were affected in the second and third districts alone.

Among the type of crops affected by the worsening dry spell were mangoes, which ranked highest with damages amounting to P151 million, mainly the farms found in the town of Compostela; followed by corn (P21.4 million), livestock (P6 million) and vegetables (P5.4 million). Also affected were the aquaculture sector (P759,000) and farms planted to rice (P547,000), banana (P526,000), root crops (P174,000) and flowers (P22,000).

“Kasagaran sa mangga, nangatagak na sa sobrang kainit (Most of the mango fruits fell before they ripened because of the extreme heat),” Tribunalo reported.

Of the 22 towns assessed, Compostela, which belongs to the fifth district, suffered the highest damage at P165 million, followed by Borbon (P8 million), Danao City and Asturias (P4 million each), and Carcar City (P1.4 million), said Tribunalo.

Although suffering also from water problems, no agricultural damages were reported in Minglanilla, Naga City, San Fernando, Tuburan, Oslob, Cordova, and Mandaue City. He said water rationing were also started in Tabogon and Barangay Kanluhangon in Tabuelan.

Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza last night said that she has communicated to the concerned barangay chairmen the MCWD’s advisory and asked them to take measures to provide water to affected residents.

She said the affected villages were asked to secure big plastic containers and put them along strategic areas in clustered communities so that these could be filled up with water that would be brought in by the city’s fire trucks.

She said they would prioritize the distribution of water to affected households since the beach resorts and hotels in the city could afford to buy their own water and have their own water tankers.