CdO LGU sets groundwork for sustainable potable water supply

The Cagayan de Oro City Council should be lauded for its swift response to the clear and present danger facing the city´s aquifers and groundwater supply.

In a privilege speech during last Tuesday´s regular session, Councilor Emmanuel Abejuela expressed alarm over the findings of a 2003 study published by the Ateneo de Manila University based on a 1998 study of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) showing how the aquifers of the city were in critical danger of being depleted by the proliferation of deep wells which were literally "mining" groundwater beyond the aquifers capacity to recharge themselves.

The study´s authors specifically used the term "mining" to dramatize how the city´s ground waters were being extracted with no future assurance they would be restored.

They noted that with its fast-growing population and booming economy, Cagayan de Oro has started to mine its stock of groundwater as evidenced by the drop in the static and pumping water level of some COWD production wells, notably one in Bugo where the pumping water level has been receding at a rate of 7-14 feet a year, in 2002!

The study attributed groundwater depletion in the city to its rapid growth. Changes in land-use patterns brought about by economic growth and geographical shifts and increase of population likewise affect the aquifer recharge rate.

The authors said the aquifer recharge rate is a function of the condition of the watershed, which is affected by forest and agricultural activities, which in turn are dictated by market demand and influenced by government policies.

Groundwater abstraction by privately owned wells in 1997-1998 accounted for roughly a third of the water district´s production, including big industries which account for more than half of the private abstraction total.

The study shows households consumed only 87 percent of the total volume of water produced by the COWD with the balance accounted for by residential, government and industrial establishments.

A survey done in 1997 identified "big industries" such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Nestle, del Monte, Alwana Wood Products and Misamis Wood Component as having their own groundwater system.

Del Monte alone has five wells with depth ranging from 50 to 125 meters. Nestle has four while Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Alwana have two each. Misamis Wood has only one well. Coca-Cola and Alwana are also getting water from the COWD.

"One of these six firms reported withdrawing about 18,300 m3 of water from their wells every day. This water-production figure of just one industrial entity is already equivalent to more than a fifth [about 22 percent] of COWD´s production in 1997," the researchers said.

"Overall, the estimated water withdrawal from non-COWD wells amounted to about 36,818 m3/day," they added.

A report published in a local daily also quoted Councilor President Elipe that most subdivision developers are forced to dig deep wells in their vicinities for their homeowners because of low water pressure from Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD) pipelines.

COWD officials have reportedly acknowledged the low water pressure due to their inability to cope with the increasing number of subdivisions in the city.

This has constrained some barangays like Macasandig to initiate its own deep wells to raise water pressure in its locality.

Councilor Abejuela fears Cagayan de Oro faces a very real prospect of becoming like Cebu where seawater has seeped into its aquifers one kilometer from the coastline and rendering its ground waters non-drinkable.

The former city planning and development coordinator under whose watch the study entitled "Metering and a Water Permits Scheme for Groundwater Use in Cagayan de Oro" was conducted, has endorses the researchers proposal to impose a system of fees and permits to regulate the abstraction of ground water within its recharge rate as well as raise funds to rehabilitate and maintain the Cagayan de Oro Watershed which is now also under siege from a proposed bioethanol plant to be sited in its midst.

The study´s authors proposed that the city implement a metering and water-permits scheme for regulating groundwater use in the city, especially considering how the country is affected by the El Nino, to ensure a year-round supply of water for agriculture, industry and residential uses.

The 1998 Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA-funded "Master Plan Study on Water Resources Management in the Philippines" estimated the city´s recharge rate of its groundwater (also known as its safe yield) to be 93,970 cubic meters a day (m3/day) against its groundwater abstraction rate of 114,078 m3/day in 2002.