Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez on Tuesday, August 27, said he has ordered an investigation into Baciwa-PrimeWater’s lack of generators to ensure steady water supply during recent power outages.
The mayor was reacting to the lack of water supply when the Alijis Substation’s transformer busted on August 21, which affected power supply in areas served by the Alijis feeders.
The mayor, at a press conference, said because PrimeWater did not have generators at its pumping stations water supply to residents was also affected.
Generators had to be lent to Baciwa-PrimeWater to ensure that water could be delivered to residents, he said.
“We are going to conduct an investigation on the gen sets to assure the public that this will never happen again,” he said.
Benitez said 64 percent of Bacolod’s water supply comes from deep wells that require electricity to pump out.
Baciwa-PrimeWater should have generators at all of its pumping stations, he said.
PrimeWater has 73 pumping stations and 59 work, Engineer Mae Cuaycong, special assistant to the mayor, said.
PrimeWater only has 18 working generators, and they are purchasing nine more, she added.
However, they also said that they are shifting towards sourcing surface water that will not need generators, Cuaycong said.
During the Alijis power outage Negros Electric and Power Corp. and the city government had to provide Baciwa-PrimeWater with four generators, she said.
Benitez said all water pumping stations must have generators to ensure that water supply will not be affected by power outages.*