Utilities & Mobile Water Supply - Dumaguete City

Dumaguete City (CNN)

Dumaguete City residents will have enough water supply even during the seven-month drought brought about by El Niño, according to Esepratu Dicen, General
Manager of the Dumaguete City Water District (DCWD).

Dicen gave the Dumaguete City Council this assurance during its regular session, saying that the DCWD would be increase the number of water pumping stations.

DCWD has 17 production wells. But Dicen stressed the need to conserve the use of water and reminded all water concessionaires that the abundance of water in Dumaguete should be enjoyed by future generations.

Dicen added that as part of its conservation efforts, DCWD shut off operations in some of its production wells to give time to recover its supply.

“We are solely dependent on ground water supply, and pumping the whole day is not advisable and also we will have no time to monitor the salinity of the water,” he said.

The Dumaguete City government is preparing for the forecasted long dry spell, starting next month until middle of next year, to ensure a steady supply of food in the local markets.
City Agriculturist William Ablong has proposed the adaption of a diversified farming system by planting legumes and root crops, instead of rice and corn, after the first cropping period in 10 barangays identified as vulnerable areas during the hotter and drier days. These are Barangays Balugo, Bajumpandan, Banilad, Batinguel, Cadawinonan, Candau-ay, Cantil-e, Camanjac, Junob and Talay.
He also submitted to the Sangguniang Panlungsod the El Niño Response Plan of Dumaguete, to mitigate the ill-effects of the weather phenomenon.
He said the city's agricultural lands, measuring about 675 hectares, are very vulnerable to the effects of El Niño, especially those far from a water system or source. These include areas planted to corn, bananas, vegetable crops and livestock forage, while areas with waterways will also suffer due to the projected lowering of the water level.
In Dumaguete, 275 hectares are planted to corn, 28.7 hectares to rice, and the rest for vegetables.
For corn production support, Ablong proposed the provision of power sprayers to sustain soil moisture, empty plastic barrels for storing water and diluting of foliar solution, changing corn crops to leguminous commodities production and root crops, and harvesting immature/green corn instead of the usual matured kernels for possible sales generation.
Farmers are also encouraged to practice “containerized gardening” for easy management, development of backyards or small manageable planting areas, putting in mulching materials to retain soil moisture under the soil, planting early maturing vegetables and short term crops, and applying natural fermented foliar supplements and organic fertilizers.
For livestock production, the provision of empty plastic barrels for water stocking is recommended, as well as the culling of non-breedable stocks, administration of weekly doses of antibiotics and multi-vitamins supplement to increase animal resistance, supplying shed materials to animals tethered in open grasslands, planting of leguminous forage grasses and drought-resistant grasses, including water support from fire trucks in case to case basis.
Ablong suggested that the city mayor allots half a million pesos from the city's calamity fund in preparation for the El Niño phenomenon.
Meanwhile, the Dumaguete City Water District assured the SP members there is enough supply of water in Dumaguete, and that there is still no cause for alarm, even with the impending El Niño.
DCWD general manager Esperatu Dicen said that since 2007, they have been preparing for a possible El Niño occurrence as a result of climate change, and this prompted the water district to increase the number of pumping stations.
To date, DCWD has 17 production wells, but officials stressed the need to conserve and regulate the use of water because just like any other mineral resource, it is also exhaustible.
As part of the conservation effort, DCWD shuts off majority of their production wells from midnight up to 4 a.m. when a lot of people are still sleeping and the demand of water is less.
Another ongoing activity of the water district is tree planting in watershed areas.