A school official urged the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) to address the demand for water by tapping the undeveloped water sources.
Engr. Fe Walag, director of the University of San Carlos (USC) Water Resource Center, said there was already a projection in 2015 that Cebu’s demand for water would reach about 200,000 cubic meters per day.
Walag said Cebu has numerous water sources, but the problem is how to channel the water to Cebu City.
In her presentation on the water demand before close to a hundred participants of the “Cebu’s Water Sanitation and Water Management Forum” at the Pagtambayayong conference room, Walag pointed out the existing water source like the Malubog Dam in Toledo City, which can supply 50,000 cubic meters of water a day.
She also identified another water source, which is the Mananga River, in Barangay Bonbon, Talisay City.
Walag said ground water supply in Cebu City is not reliable due to saltwater intrusion.
“This decision (to tap these existing water sources) is not personal. This decision is for all of us,” Walag said.
She added that the population is getting bigger each year; thus, the demand for water is also getting higher and that other available water sources are needed to be tapped.
The discussion to tap other sources of potable water in Kotkot and Lusaran was brought up during one of the meetings of the Metro Cebu Coordinating and Development Board (MCDCB) last month.
However, the MCWD said they couldn’t tap those water sources yet despite the demand of some sectors as they needed the support of the national government to fund the project since it would require a big amount of money to build facilities that will channel the water to Cebu City.