BACOLOD CITY – A total of 663,500 liters of water have been delivered to residents of 18 barangays here affected by the El Niño phenomenon since the start of this city’s water rationing program last month.
RESIDENTS queue in line for water during the ‘Patubig sa Barangay’ program of the Bacolod City government. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod PIO)
The “Patubig sa Barangay” program of the city government and its partners have provided supplemental water supply to a total of 33,966 households in Barangays 27, 29, 30, 31, 40, Alijis, Bata, Cabug, Estefania, Felisa, Handumanan, Mandalagan, Mansilingan, Singcang-Airport, Sum-ag, Tangub, Taculing, and Villamonte.
An average of 1,550 households were served daily with an average daily water distribution of 36,642 liters.
The program was initiated by the city government in April to address the water shortage in some areas here aggravated by the effects of El Niño.
Based on the water availability map released by PrimeWater and the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa), 12 barangays are greatly affected by the effects of El Niño since there has been a decrease in supply from the bulk water supplier.
Areas with zero to four hours of water availability were Barangays Handumanan, Tangub, Mandalagan, Felisa, Vista Alegre, Villamonte, Taculing, Alijis, Sum-ag, Mansilingan, 40, and Banago.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said that this city requires 125 million liters per day (MLD) of water while PrimeWater said that it has an existing 70 MLD but was reduced to 50 MLD because of the dry spell.
In a meeting with PrimeWater officials, the company assured the mayor of a water surplus starting 2025 up to 50 MLD by 2028. They also presented their immediate and long-term solutions to address water concerns here.
One of them is the deployment of 24 water tanks with a capacity of 2,000 liters each in the 12 barangays. PrimeWater also has five water trucks for their daily water rationing and delivery.