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Quezon City-
The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) has mobilized
its field personnel in coordination with the nearest existing
water districts to provide urgent relief and technical assistance
to the town of Real in Quezon Province and three other municipalities
in Misamis Oriental which are affected by suspected typhoid fever
and cholera outbreaks, respectively.
This was
reported today by LWUA Administrator Orlando C. Hondrade who said
that agency field personnel are leading the distribution of safe
potable drinking water in the affected barangays of Real and the
technical investigations and studies in the towns of Villanueva,
Jasaan and Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental to serve as bases for
recommendations on how to safeguard the existing water source
and distribution and needed capital improvements of the water
system.
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Above,
Infanta WD personnel supervised by LWUA engineer Mario Macatangay
(right) fill a water tanker from one of the district's water
filtration and pumping stations for distribution to affected
residents (below) of neighboring Real town in Quezon province.
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Hondrade
said a team led by LWUA engineer Mario Macatangay in coordination
with the nearby Infanta Water District (IWD) is currently rationing
safe potable drinking water to the residents of the affected barangays
of Real utilizing two fire trucks that carry treated water drawn
from the IWD system. There is no water district in Real and the
main source of water is an undeveloped and unprotected spring
that overflows into a river.
Like in Real,
there are no existing water districts in the three affected towns
of Misamis Oriental and initial fact-finding showed that they
are getting water from a common source. There are rural water
and sanitation associations (RWSAs) in the affected towns but
they have refused to convert into water districts and be under
the supervision of LWUA.
Hondrade
clarified that under the law, Presidential Decree No. 198, as
amended, a province, city or municipality has to first form a
separate, independent water district before it could avail of
LWUA's financial, technical and institutional development assistance
and regulatory services.
Notwithstanding
this, Hondrade said, the agency is coordinating through LWUA Area
Operations division manager Engr. Ernesto de Vera in cooperation
with Cagayan de Oro City Water District to extend technical assistance
to the LGUs of the affected towns of Misamis Oriental to safeguard
and protect their water source and to formulate programs to develop
and improve their water supply system.
Cagayan de
Oro City Water District is part of a task force formed by the
provincial health office of Misamls Oriental to respond to the
emergencies brought about by the waterborne disease outbreaks
in the said towns.
November 20, 2008
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