Costing Water: River Water is not free
Mike Banos
December 01, 2008
There's merit in Kagawad Bong Lao's proposal to use river water for fighting fires and watering plants to help bring down the "ballooning expenses" of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD).
Actually, what Kag. Lao presented in his special report during the City Council's regular session last Nov. 17 was the COWD Board of Directors' Resolution 305-2006 proposing the establishment of water filling stations along the riverbanks in all viable waterways in Cagayan de Oro City.
This proposal purportedly aims to bring down the estimated P190,712,500 COWD spends every year to buy bulk water from the Rio Verde Water Consortium, which supplies 40,000 cu.m. of treated water daily (not 50,000 as earlier reported) at a contract price of P10.45 per cubic meter.
On top of this, COWD is also paying its loans to the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) amounting to over P1 billion, aside from its assessed back taxes amounting to P341 million, more or less.
Lao reportedly cited a 20 percent savings annually on water consumption which could ostensibly improve COWD's bottomline and address the water needs of its concessionaires.
The Cagayan de Oro City Fire Station earlier requested the council's committee on public utilities for two water pumps to directly siphon water from the river for firefighting. Offhand, the proposal sounds okay, but what would probably be the COWD's savings could end up being the CDO Fire Station's bane.
The COWD currently treats water taken from fire hydrants by fire trucks to fight fires as "non-revenue water" (NRW), that controversial line item in their financial statements that ballooned to over 50 percent last year for some months as admitted by some members of the COWD Board of Directors themselves. Transferring 20 percent of that NRW to the CDO Fire Station (which can't even afford to buy new fire trucks) could be simply moving a portion of that NRW somewhere else, to the detriment of both the fire station and COWD.
Judging from the number of fires which hit the city last year, it's impossible to attribute that much NRW to water taken by fire trucks for firefighting. Even if the COWD's NRW only stood at 40% of its monthly production (198,262 cu.m. x 40% = 79,305 cu.m.), this volume of water would mean some 6,987 fire tenders/tankers of 3,000 gallons capacity each being used every day. Obviously the greater portion of that NRW can be attributed to some other factors, the most suspect of which would be illegal connections.
As of year end, the official COWD website reported total service connections of 68,421, of which approximately 60% are residential consumers which consume less than 10 cu.m. water per month. The average consumption per household in the city is approximately 32 cu.m. per month, according to COWD officials.
Furthermore, the water siphoned from the river by the fire department is not entirely free. There's the cost of fire trucks, salaries of firemen, and operating costs to consider, on top of the dubious quality of river water sourced near thickly populated riverbanks and river sand bars which could pose health hazards to firemen and fire victims. Bottomline, the water from fire hydrants could actually cost less than water siphoned from the river.
While this should not entirely discount that option to reduce the COWD's operating expenses, there's only one way to really evaluate its viability and that is to compare the full costing for the two alternatives and take it from there. The cost to the environment and remaining marine life in the Cagayan River of extracting 20 percent of the city's water needs should also be considered and factored into that evaluation.
The COWD should also consider other alternatives such as regulating the use of treated, potable drinking water by many of its concessionaires to keep their lawns, cemeteries and flower beds green.
In Tampa Bay, Florida in the United States, a report from the city's parks and recreation department shows that since January 2008, nearly 139 million gallons of potable water had been used on city owned parks and properties, compared with about 15 million gallons of reclaimed water.
That translates into a cost of $391,740 for potable water and $24,277 for reclaimed.
The uses include water for recreational facilities such as pools, public bathrooms and community centers, and irrigation for parks, medians and city-owned cemeteries.
On average, Floridians use more water on their lawns than they consume.
Although most cities and counties limit irrigation to one day a week, millions of gallons of drinking water are drawn from wellfields across the state every day – not just to quench the thirst of a growing population, but also to water lawns and irrigate crops.
Regionally, Tampa Bay Water managers have outlined an ambitious program to replace drinking water with reclaimed water within the district for lawn irrigation by 2025.
The regional water provider said a two-year drought and a drier-than-normal October have reduced flows in area rivers, increasing the need for conserving water supplies.
Perhaps the Board of Directors should start earning those perks and benefits which significantly raises the COWD's bottom line as well as bring down its NRW to more manageable levels instead of opting for quick-fix, stop-gap solutions which have negligible long-term effects on its operations.
Experience has taught us that a La Niña episode like the one we're now experiencing is usually followed by an El Niño drought. The sooner we fix the way we use our valuable drinking water the better it will be for us when the bad times come.
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Actually, what Kag. Lao presented in his special report during the City Council's regular session last Nov. 17 was the COWD Board of Directors' Resolution 305-2006 proposing the establishment of water filling stations along the riverbanks in all viable waterways in Cagayan de Oro City.
This proposal purportedly aims to bring down the estimated P190,712,500 COWD spends every year to buy bulk water from the Rio Verde Water Consortium, which supplies 40,000 cu.m. of treated water daily (not 50,000 as earlier reported) at a contract price of P10.45 per cubic meter.
On top of this, COWD is also paying its loans to the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) amounting to over P1 billion, aside from its assessed back taxes amounting to P341 million, more or less.
Lao reportedly cited a 20 percent savings annually on water consumption which could ostensibly improve COWD's bottomline and address the water needs of its concessionaires.
The Cagayan de Oro City Fire Station earlier requested the council's committee on public utilities for two water pumps to directly siphon water from the river for firefighting. Offhand, the proposal sounds okay, but what would probably be the COWD's savings could end up being the CDO Fire Station's bane.
The COWD currently treats water taken from fire hydrants by fire trucks to fight fires as "non-revenue water" (NRW), that controversial line item in their financial statements that ballooned to over 50 percent last year for some months as admitted by some members of the COWD Board of Directors themselves. Transferring 20 percent of that NRW to the CDO Fire Station (which can't even afford to buy new fire trucks) could be simply moving a portion of that NRW somewhere else, to the detriment of both the fire station and COWD.
Judging from the number of fires which hit the city last year, it's impossible to attribute that much NRW to water taken by fire trucks for firefighting. Even if the COWD's NRW only stood at 40% of its monthly production (198,262 cu.m. x 40% = 79,305 cu.m.), this volume of water would mean some 6,987 fire tenders/tankers of 3,000 gallons capacity each being used every day. Obviously the greater portion of that NRW can be attributed to some other factors, the most suspect of which would be illegal connections.
As of year end, the official COWD website reported total service connections of 68,421, of which approximately 60% are residential consumers which consume less than 10 cu.m. water per month. The average consumption per household in the city is approximately 32 cu.m. per month, according to COWD officials.
Furthermore, the water siphoned from the river by the fire department is not entirely free. There's the cost of fire trucks, salaries of firemen, and operating costs to consider, on top of the dubious quality of river water sourced near thickly populated riverbanks and river sand bars which could pose health hazards to firemen and fire victims. Bottomline, the water from fire hydrants could actually cost less than water siphoned from the river.
While this should not entirely discount that option to reduce the COWD's operating expenses, there's only one way to really evaluate its viability and that is to compare the full costing for the two alternatives and take it from there. The cost to the environment and remaining marine life in the Cagayan River of extracting 20 percent of the city's water needs should also be considered and factored into that evaluation.
The COWD should also consider other alternatives such as regulating the use of treated, potable drinking water by many of its concessionaires to keep their lawns, cemeteries and flower beds green.
In Tampa Bay, Florida in the United States, a report from the city's parks and recreation department shows that since January 2008, nearly 139 million gallons of potable water had been used on city owned parks and properties, compared with about 15 million gallons of reclaimed water.
That translates into a cost of $391,740 for potable water and $24,277 for reclaimed.
The uses include water for recreational facilities such as pools, public bathrooms and community centers, and irrigation for parks, medians and city-owned cemeteries.
On average, Floridians use more water on their lawns than they consume.
Although most cities and counties limit irrigation to one day a week, millions of gallons of drinking water are drawn from wellfields across the state every day – not just to quench the thirst of a growing population, but also to water lawns and irrigate crops.
Regionally, Tampa Bay Water managers have outlined an ambitious program to replace drinking water with reclaimed water within the district for lawn irrigation by 2025.
The regional water provider said a two-year drought and a drier-than-normal October have reduced flows in area rivers, increasing the need for conserving water supplies.
Perhaps the Board of Directors should start earning those perks and benefits which significantly raises the COWD's bottom line as well as bring down its NRW to more manageable levels instead of opting for quick-fix, stop-gap solutions which have negligible long-term effects on its operations.
Experience has taught us that a La Niña episode like the one we're now experiencing is usually followed by an El Niño drought. The sooner we fix the way we use our valuable drinking water the better it will be for us when the bad times come.
30 -
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