Deep wells

I got reactions from the internet on the column (4/13-14/15) on “Tuubiig!!!” Radio commentaries also mentioned the turbid water that came out of the Bacolod City Water District pipelines last week. As usual the BACIWA knee-jerk reply is that they were cleaning their pipes and had to flush out the dirt but with that usual arrogant addition that the water is “safe”.

Can we have the management and the officials of the water district drink their murky water before media to prove their water is safe for human consumption? How about a water challenge with their iron-filled water? Maybe they can wash their clothes with iron-filled (tina) water and say their wash is clean as snow?

Aside from the BACIWA juice being muddy, the concessionaires have to pay for that dirty water because the meter does not stop simply because the water is dirty. It keeps turning, the water wasted and the consumers paying. BACIWA should do better than that because this complaint has been expressed on a regular basis and BACIWA has not made efforts to solve the problem. Indeed, there is solution to this problem but has BACIWA even tried?

Let me quote the internet comment (4/15/15) from Serafin S. Gacho who signed the note without condition of anonymity. He said:

“A few days ago the BACIWA Board of Directors announced that they will conduct bidding for Bulk Water Supply to add new (deep well) pumps and reactivate old ones to address the insufficient water supply in the City.

“This decision is in direct disregard of the JICA study in 2009 (Bacolod Beat News June 25, 2009) which predicted that, "Bacolod will run out of water by 2025. This is very alarming for the next decade. It is also incomprehensible why they should pump/inject more water into the system considering that the non-revenue-water (NRW) is a high 42 percent and is likely to increase once more volume and pressure are introduced.

“The Board has the authority for the decision. But do they have the accountability?”

First to the question: do they have the accountability? They sure have but whether the higher authorities will demand accounting is another matter. We must accept the tragic fact that those in higher positions in the water agency are the approving authority and they are also the officials who are mandated to account. Can Ali Baba make the forty others account?

The history of corruption in BACIWA is well-documented but nobody is willing to prosecute, not even the Commission on Audit or the Ombudsman, because complaints had been filed with them. So, just take their water whether you like it or not – that's the bottom line. What is important is that we have raised the issue; our responsibility to bring out the cancer in our society, BACIWA, particularly in this case, is completed. Those who are mandated to make the culprits account but don't have to answer for their negligence if not in this life, then thereafter. A consuelo perhaps, but not for a bobo.

On the issue of deep wells, the fact is that we don't need that because there are millions of liters of above ground water cascading down from our mountain ranges – Mandalagan and Marapara – and into the sea. It is cheaper to tap this water but there is little money there for the corrupt. On the other hand there is much money in deep wells, never mind the long-term damage to the environment.

It is known that Bacolod can tap the water springs from Talisay but now BACIWA is calling bids for bulk water supply. This was made last year but the supplier, Murcia, backed out when it was found it was going to get the water from Bacolod and someone and several others were going to get rich. Now BACIWA is at it again when it can get that from Talisay at cheaper cost. But who wants cheap water when there's no money to get there?

Deep wells are expensive because the water has to be pumped out due to continuous dependence on electricity. Moreover wells take out water from the aquifers very fast. This water source can be replenished by ground water only for decades. It takes years for a drop of water from above ground to reach the aquifers; it takes seconds to pump them out.

The experience of many cities is clear proof that aquifers can dry out or become too expensive as water source. For Bacolod that's ten years to prepare from now.*

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