By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A total of 20,223 individuals, composed of 5,283 households, in Negros Occidental’s Himamaylan City are affected by water shortage due to the ongoing drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon.

Joefil Sombilion, Himamaylan City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office’s (CDRRMO) Research and Planning Section head, said water supplies in the city’s Barangay Mahalang and Cabadiangan are nearly out.

In Mahalang, around 40 households no longer have access to water from their wells, measuring around 80 to 90 feet deep.

Sombilion revealed that the situation in Mahalang and Cabadiangan is now in a critical state, as residents have to wait at least two to three hours if water supply is available.

Around 4,000 residents in nine villages are also facing water shortages as levels continue to drop.

At least 13 barangays — 3, 4, Cabadiangan, Cabanbanan, Buenavista, Nabali-an, Mambagaton, Su-ay, Mahalang, To-oy, San Antonio, Libacao, and Carabalan — suffered damage to their rice fields due to El Niño, with losses now valued at a staggering P12,064,923, with 381 farmers and 509.83 hectares of crops are affected.

The city government has now scheduled the delivery of water to the affected residents using their water tankers.

Meanwhile, the Negros Occidental provincial government lent the city government their water filtration equipment to obtain additional water supply for the affected residents.

However, the declaration of a state of calamity has not been made yet, according to the CDRRMO, as authorities are still gathering data from barangays affected by the drought for the Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis report./DGB, WDJ