The Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD) will rent additional tank or lorry trucks if its cloud seeding contingency measure fails to succeed in replenishing the water supply.
Jenn Rausa, acting information officer of the water firm, said that based on the report of their engineering department, the remaining water supply available from their groundwater sources per day is now just around 30,000 cubic meters which are not enough for the needs of consumers.
The demand for water supply is more than 40,000 cubic meters per day, which indicates a huge depletion rate.
“Pinaka-source kasi talaga natin ay ulan, so ‘yon lang ang nagre-replenish ng sources natin so kung hindi matutuloy itong cloud seeding, kung sakali lang, hopefully hindi naman mangyari na hindi siya maging effective, wala na talaga,” Rausa said Tuesday.
She said if the cloud seeding operation will not be enough to provide water, the current volume of 30,000 cubic meters per day will be distributed further to the consumers.
Currently, Rausa said 21 barangays are already “severely affected by the water crisis in the city.”
Rausa said the lorry trucks will help in the water rationing system that they are now implementing in affected areas.
“Ang nangyayari ngayon, mostly affected areas natin ay nandoon sa bayan tapos kung sakali na ito na lang ‘yong pagkukunan ng supply ng tubig, ang mangyayari ay gagawin na lang namin na magpu-purchase o magre-renta ng maraming lorry trucks para ‘yong 30,000 cubic meters na ‘yon ma-distribute natin papuntang bayan kasi wala ng way para taasan ‘yong pressure natin para makadagdag ng flow rate,” she pointed out.
She said they have already communicated with private owners for the rental of their lorry trucks.
The average trip of one lorry truck ranges from six to seven trips a day.
However, there are affected barangays whose demand need more than one lorry truck.
Rausa is optimistic that rainfall will normalize by June per the forecast of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
She added they are still hoping to spot “seedable clouds” over Campo Uno dam, the main water source in Barangay Irawan.
The PPCWD has contracted 40 hours-worth of cloud seeding operations, she said. However, daily monitoring of cloud formations in the watershed area is needed to ensure the success of the artificial rain-enhancing method.
“Kung sakali na halimbawa, 15 hours lang dumating na yong tag-ulan, ‘di pa natin nauubos ‘yong asin natin, pwede naman natin i-store ‘yan katulad ng sa ibang probinsya rin,” she added
