Super typhoon “Egay” unleashed enough amount of rain to replenish the city’s dwindling water reserves.
Baguio Water District General Manager Salvador Royeca reported improved water level status in two of the city’s biggest water sources – the Busol rainwater harvesting facility and the Sto. Tomas rain basin.
Royeca said in the Sto. Tomas rain basin, the water level reading reached 8.91 meters on July 26 and this rose to 9.74 meters at 12 p.m. of July 27 and to P10.70 meters as of 3 p.m. of July 28.
Royeca relayed the positive development to Mayor Benjamin Magalong who welcomed the good news.
The BWD manager told the mayor that the current waterline would be enough to augment the city’s water requirement until next year when the El Niño phenomenon is expected to persist.
“The current water mark is high enough considering that the basin’s spill level is 12 meters. Egay is also a blessing,” Royeca said.
The water firm and the city have been preparing for the El Niño projected to linger until next year threatening to cause acute shortage of water in the city.
Royeca also shared updates on their water resources development and supply augmentation programs, particularly the commissioning of the new Zigzag and Gibraltar deep wells, drilling of two boreholes soon in Richwood and South Drive areas, bidding of two more sites in Montinola and Bakakeng areas, and the completion of the drilling of the artificial recharging well at Burnham Park.
“We intend to drill 10 wells for our summer operation including the suspended CAAP site. Our program is to have 10 wells per year as part of our medium-term solution to improve our production capacity. Also, the installation of augmentation lines to supply areas with no viable source is either ongoing or awarded to our contractor,” Royeca said.
At present, the BWD has a total of 46,726 active connections being supplied by its 77 pumping stations, 63 deep wells, four open/spring sources, and two rainwater harvesting facilities. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
