MCWD pursues water sources as PAGASA warns of looming El Niño

THE METROPOLITAN Cebu Water District (MCWD) has lined up its sourcing plans to plug the growing gap between supply and demand, especially with a likely El Niño occurrence by the end of the year. “We may not be able to close the gap between the supply and demand as fast as we wish to but we are heading towards that direction. Metro Cebu’s fast economic development is a blessing but the increase of the water requirements at an unprecedented speed is an ongoing challenge for the water district,” MCWD General Manager Jose B. Singson Jr. said in a statement. MCWD, the largest water supplier in Metro Cebu, currently serves only 42% of the water demand in four major cities and four municipalities, with some areas experiencing less than 24 hours of supply. The current demand of Metro Cebu’s over one million population is now at 400,000 cubic meters (cu. m.) per day while MCWD is producing only about 234,000 cu. m., sourced mostly from groundwater wells and bulk water supply from private suppliers. PAGASA-Cebu Officer-in-Charge Alfredo F. Quiblat, Jr. said there is now a higher possibility of an El Niño event within the year based on recent analysis. “It seems that climatologists are already sure that an El Niño event will happen this year… But we still don’t know as to the intensity of the El Niño, whether it will be weak, moderate or strong,” he told The FREEMAN over a phone interview. —

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