PPCWD expects to declare water crisis alert level 3

Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD) is expecting to declare a water crisis alert level 3 within its service coverage once the city’s water supply production falls to around 50 percent.

Jenn Rausa, PPCWD spokesperson, told Palawan Daily News (PDN) Thursday it was just within the first days of this week when they declared the water crisis alert level 2. They posted the advisory on their official Facebook page yesterday, February 26.

“Kapag po ‘yong overall water supply production ay nagre-range na lang from 80 to 60 percent so below 60 percent, kapag umabot na tayo ng 50 percent ng overall water supply natin, doon na po tayo magde-declare ng level three,” said Rausa.

Rausa said their meeting yesterday revealed an abrupt decline of around 2,000 cubic meters per day in overall water production of both the surface and ground water sources.

The decline was recorded just a few days following the declaration of water crisis alert level 2, when the overall water production was still at around 34,000 cubic meters per day.

Presently, she said the water supply production of both surface and ground water sources are already at 32,000 cubic meters per day, which is short of 10,000 cubic meters per day compared to the city’s 42,000 cubic meters daily water demand.

Rausa said even the Campo Uno in Barangay Irawan, which is the main water source of the city, is now averaging to 250 cubic meters per hour in water supply production.

Meanwhile, she said contingency measures are continuously being implemented to address the demand for water.

Rausa said PPCWD is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to serve the public, and even accommodate complaints and cater their requests.

“Isa po kasi sa concerns ng consumers natin ngayon [is] ‘yong bill nila. Walang supply ng tubig pero minimum pa rin daw ‘yong sinisingil. Ngayon po we would like to inform lang ‘yong mga consumers natin na under observation po and monitoring ‘yong kanilang bill especially doon sa mga affected areas natin, so kailangan po kasi nating i-observe, gawan natin ng analysis ‘yong consumption ng mga consumers natin doon sa mga affected areas and after that saka po tayo mag-implement ng split-minimum,” said Rausa.