The Bacolod City government, together with its various partners, has delivered some 526,000 liters of water to El Niño hit households in the past three weeks.
Data on Thursday showed that from April 9 to May 1, the water delivered benefited 26,629 households in various villages in the city.
Among those who availed of water rationing were residents of barangays 18, 27, 30 and 33 as well as Villamonte, Felisa, Taculing, Cabug, Mansilingan, Handumanan, Alijis and Mandalagan.
Through the “Patubig Sa Barangay” program, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez ordered to supply water in areas experiencing drought due to El Niño since the first week of April.
Benitez earlier reported that Bacolod’s water supply of 70 million liters of water per day (MLD) has been reduced to 50 MLD due to the prolonged dry weather.
“We’re short of 20 MLD to begin with. PrimeWater customers need 90 MLD, so we’re really short of 40 MLD,” he said.
The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office has been delivering water to affected areas using 17 stainless steel water tanks, with a capacity of 2,000 liters each.
In assisted areas, the volume of delivered water ranged from 3,000 liters to 22,000 in a day.
The city government has received support from private groups such as Amado B. Parreño Agricultural Corp., which allowed it access to water supply at Bocal-Bocal Springs in Barangay Alangilan for free.
The Bacolod Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Red Cross Bacolod-Negros Occidental Chapter and Manila Water has also been helping the “Patubig Sa Barangay” program of the city government.*PNA