BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong here said the city continues to enhance water use and conservation efforts with the acquisition of P90 million from the Budget department for the construction of a rain water harvesting facility within the Camp 8 watershed on Kennon Road.

Magalong informed city government department heads that the fund was committed to be released by no less than Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado to help in the efforts to implement strategic measures to effectively and efficiently address the impending water shortage in the city.

Magalong added that the Camp 8 water harvesting facility will serve as an additional water containment area to hold rain water for future use because of emerging threats of water shortage caused by the depletion of the existing water sources aggravated by the increasing number of illegal deep wells operating in the different parts of the city.

At present, there are established rain water harvesting facilities in Mount Sto. Tomas and Busol watershed following the completion of these projects several years ago.

The rain water harvesting facility constructed within the Busol watershed is not yet operational after it was damaged by the wrath of typhoon “Ompong” in September 2018, thus the restoration of the damaged facility will be provided with funds from the calamity funds to facilitate its eventual rehabilitation.

Magalong disclosed that the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) has approved in principle the long overdue clamor of the local government to be informed of any application for the establishment of deep wells in the city so that appropriate interventions could be done to oppose these to prevent its projected negative impact to the overall water supply here.

Magalong said the city will encounter a difficult situation in terms of water supply in the next three months because of the depletion of ater in the existing sources, thus, the need for residents to cooperate with the implementation of water use and conservation initiatives.

Baguio Water District officials said the water level at the Mount Sto. Tomas rain water harvesting facility is only 1.75 meters which is way below its usual level of approximately five meters while some of the BWD’s available sources at Gibraltar have dried up for the first time in the history of their operation.