By Mae Singuay

The Bacolod City government has scheduled a meeting this week with officials from local government agencies to resolve the water supply shortage.

On his radio program “Isugid Kay Mayor” yesterday, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez responded to complaints about poor and turbid water supply from the Bacolod City Water District (Baciwa) and PrimeWater Infrastructure Inc.

PrimeWater maintenance head John Arlan Canatoy said several areas in the city are experiencing low water supply.

Canatoy said a water equipment failure caused a drop in water volume by around 16 million liters a day (MLD) in the city’s northern part, and 700,000 liters per day in the south.

He said that 70 percent of deep wells are operational.

PrimeWater supplies 75 MLD of water to 69,792 consumers, and needs an additional 20 MLD.

Canotay said each resident consumes an average of 30 cubic meters per month.

They contracted another bulk water supplier to provide 50 MLD as a long-term solution to the supply shortage.

The new bulk water supplier could immediately implement the bulk water supply project.

“We will schedule a meeting this week with the agencies involved so that the supplier will not have a hard time to process their documents needed in the implementation of the bulk water supply project,” Benitez said.

Earlier, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution, urging Baciwa and PrimeWater to provide explanations in relation to water supply shortage./MS, WDJ