No need to panic for the scheduled four day water service interruption starting next Tuesday. It’s the best compromise to cushion the impact of the sixteen day rehabilitation period needed to restore the production of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District’s (COWD) bulk water supplier after twenty years of continued operations.
What COWD and the Cagayan de Oro Bulk Water Inc. (COBI) essentially did was break up the sixteen days rehab period of the treatment plant into four 4-day repair/rehab periods with a 10-14 day “healing period” of normal operations in-between, to minimize the impact of the water interruptions on its concessionaires.
According to Engr. Nieva A. Ladera, COWD Assistant for Technical Services, the first phase is scheduled for four (4) days, from March 17 to 20, but may be shortened if the repairs are completed earlier, COWD said in an advisory posted on its social media page on March 14, a day after it held a press briefing at a local hotel to present the plan.
This period will allow COBI to rehabilitate the Rapid Sand Filters (RSF) of the 50,000MLD Module 2 Train 2 of its Baungon, Bukidnon plant. During this rehabilitation period, COBI will not completely cease operations, but instead deliver water to COWD at a reduced flow rate of 40 instead of 60 million liters daily (MLD) for the West Line, and 10 MLD instead of 20 MLF for the East Line.
Marianito H. Barahan, COBI Technical Representative, explained that after 20 years of operation, the Rapid Sand Filters (RSF) which filter the water coming from Bununawan River are already clogged up and have to be replace to enable the water treatment plant to regain its designed production capacity of 100 MLD.
This will be followed by a two-week healing period from March 21-April 6 during which COBI will deliver its usual 60MLD to the West Line and 20MLD to the East Line.
The next four day rehab is scheduled for April 7-10 to allow COBI to rehab the RSF of its Modul2 Train 1 during which it is expected to slightly increase delivery to 42.5 MLD for the West Line and 12.5MLD to the East Line.
A 10-day healing period from April 11-20 follows with the resumption of normal operations, with the next 4-day rehab scheduled from April 21-24 for the RSF of Module 1 Train 2, again slightly increasing delivery during this period to 45 MLD and 12.5 MLD for COWD’s West and East Lines, respectively.
This will be followed by another 10-day healing period from April 25-May 4 with the resumption of normal operations, before the final 4-day rehab period for Module 1 Train 1 on May 5-8 but again, slightly increasing its delivery to 47.5 MLD and 12.5 MLD respectively for COWD’s West and East Lines, respectively. Normal operations is then scheduled to resume on May 9.
Despite the low water pressure to be experienced by users during each of the four 4-day rehab periods, COWD General Manager Edna S. Najeal said COWD production wells will be operating at full/ maximized capacity to help maintain water pressure to all areas. As a result, the public may experience temporary water interruptions and low water pressure, particularly in elevated areas.
Residents who need water delivery during the service interruption are advised to coordinate with their respective barangay offices. Barangay officials will coordinate directly with the team in charge of water delivery.
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That’s a sensible approach to minimizing disruption for businesses during the COBI rehab. It makes sense to prioritize the longer-term restoration of the water supply.