DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Despite the slightly yellowish water in Cabantian here, the Davao City Water District (DCWD) guaranteed that the water is safe to drink.
DCWD Spokesperson Atty. Bernard Delima told reporters on Tuesday, July 4, that the water in Cabantian areas are yellowish because the pipelines in the area were not utilized for almost a year due to the ongoing improvement of waterworks.
“We’ll admit that it is slightly yellowish, but it is chlorinated so it is safe to drink. There are just fears because of the color, but if you drink it, nothing will happen to you,” Delima added.
DCWD’s quality control division also examined the water in the area and recommended it is free from bacteria despite its slight yellowish color.
“For added measures for the residents in Cabantian, they may choose not to drink it if they don’t want to. But we can assure that it is safe to drink because it’s bacteria-free. They can also use it for any other domestic purposes,” Delima said.
Delima also pointed out that since the period of implementation, they have not received any report of residents getting sick because of water.
Fresa May Momo, 24, a resident of Deca Homes in Cabantian, told Davao Today that they have noticed that “the water is yellowish, but eventually clears a little bit”.
She added yellowish water is better than not having water at all.
“Yellowish water is not big deal for me as long as there will be water supply every day. I hope that the water situation in our area will improve soon so that we will not experience water interruptions anymore,” Momo said.
Residents in Cabantian have been suffering from worsening water woes since last year.
In March this year, Cabantian Barangay Chairman Nilo Cabiles said that only 20 percent of the estimated 10,000 customers of DCWD are provided with steady water supply.
Delima said that it has been two weeks since DCWD started implementing the 12-hour rotational water supply schedule in Cabantian, an improvement compared to the water system supply every other day and the delivery of rations of water by truck.
“When we started about two weeks ago, we improved the services in Cabantian. Instead of the ‘every other day’ water supply, now they have 12 hours a day or more daily. We have connected them to our other water sources so it is improving,” he said.
“Cabantian is now improving and we hope that it will improve soon by providing them water 24 hours a day,” Delima added.
Currently, DCWD provides a minimum of 800 cubic meters of water per day in Cabantian.
Delima said they will augment other water sources such as Panacan water system to provide enough water supply in the area.(davaotoday.com)
