Mayor to shut down all deep wells, shift to surface water

Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constantino G. Jarauala is not waiting for the results of a proposed study to convince him now is the time to act to save the continued depletion of the city´s aquifers.

Plans are underway for the city government to build a 1,000 cubic meter (m3) reservoir in a city government lot in Bgy. Indahag which will use water from the Cagayan de Oro City Water District´s (COWD) bulk water facility in Baungon, Bukidnon for distribution to eight rural barangays currently not served by the COWD.

During a presentation on groundwater depletion in Cagayan de Oro held Monday at the City Mayor´s Office by Prof. Rosalina Tan of the Ateneo de Manila University, the chief executive said it is the policy of the city government to eventually shut down all deep wells and instead use treated surface water from the COWD's bulk water supply.

"We will compel the COWD to shut down its deep wells," Jaraula told Tan, whose 2003 study with Germilino Bautista showed the city´s aquifers were being depleted of groundwater beyond their "safe yield" or "recharge rate,", i.e., withdrawing ground water without lowering the water table.

The AdMU study also found that there were already up to 3,000 privately owned and operated deep wells abstracting water from Cagayan de Oro´s aquifers, most of operating without permits from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

Tan and Bautista´s 2003 study "Watersheds and Groundwater Depletion in the Philippines: The Cagayan de Oro Experience" found the city was already in a state of "groundwater mining" or extracting groundwater beyond its ability to recharge the aquifers. COWD data show that in areas like Calaanan, the pumping water level was dropping from 7-14 feet a year. Soil subsidence was also noted in some areas and saltwater intrusion observed in seven coastal barangays and three inland communities as early as 2001.

The rapid rise in demand due to increasing urbanization and industrialization and decimation of the watershed´s forest cover were identified as the culprits for the accelerating drop in the static water level in representative wells around the region since the late 1980s. Analysis of pumping water levels from COWD production data also revealed statistically significant declines.

Tan´s action research proposal would a metering and permit scheme to regulate the abstraction of groundwater from the city´s aquifers within its 94,000 m3 daily "safe yield or recharge rate." The funds generated by the scheme would be used to implement the system of monitoring and permits, with the bulk going to the reforestration and rehabilitation of the Cagayan de Oro Watershed.

"We welcome this very much except our need for metering is getting lesser since our approach is to prevent further abstraction from deep wells," Jaraula said during an exclusive presentation by Tan at the Mayor´s office Monday. "We are making it the policy of this LGU to use surface water instead of ground water."

As the only city with a bulk water supply, Jaraula said Cagayan de Oro is already at an advantage in dealing with the depletion of its groundwater since it will be able to draw up to 150,000 cubic meters (m3) of treated surface water daily from the bulk water plant of Rio Verde Water Consortium.

At present, 77% of the city´s daily water demand of 170,000 m3 is drawn by the COWD from its 24 production wells and only 23% from the bulk water supply.

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