Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Utility project to improve water pressure in Leyte

published February 09, 2010 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY -- The Leyte Metropolitan Water District (LMWD) has assured that a project designed to boost water pressure in this city will be completed before the end of this quarter.

Nestor P. Villasin, general manager, also assured that rates would not increase because the utility did not take out a bank loan to implement the P25-million project. The project is internally funded.

"This is a big project that is designed to increase water pressure in Tacloban," he said. Presently, the utility relies mainly on gravity to bring water from the source in Barangay Tingib, Pastrana, Leyte.

The project, which started in December 2009, uses German-made water pumps. These are being installed within the government center in Palo town, a province-owned property.

"We are confident that this will improve our service. We won’t operate this at a full capacity considering the limitation of our pipes but we are prepared for possible leaks," Mr. Villasin added.

Water pressure is low in this city because it is at the end of the utility’s distribution system. The utility also serves the towns of Dagami, Tolosa, Tabon-Tabon, Sta. Fe, Pastrana, Tanauan and Palo, all in Leyte.

Mr. Villasin also said there are over 19,000 connections in Tacloban City, more than the system’s capacity for this city. The utility serves 28,000 additional concessionaires in the other towns.

Tacloban, which gets about 70% of the water delivery, has been experiencing 25% deficiency.

Approximately 30,000 cubic meters of potable water is delivered to the LMWD service area every day with the main bulk of supply coming from the rapid filtration plant in Pastrana.-Sarwell Q. Meniano

Samar has most nutritionally poor towns -- NNC

published February 09, 2010 in BusinessWorld

PALO, LEYTE -- Eight out of the top 10 nutritionally depressed municipalities in Eastern Visayas this year are on Samar Island, the National Nutritional Council (NNC) last week reported.

Carina Z. Santiago, NNC regional nutrition program coordinator, said the report is a wake-up call to local government units with poor performance in achieving gains in nutrition.

"We will request local government officials to invest in malnutrition programs. I wish they can identify programs that they will implement. It’s about time to call members of the municipal nutrition committee to talk about how to help malnourished children," Ms. Santiago told BusinessWorld.

The town of San Vicente in Northern Samar posted the highest malnutrition prevalence in the region with four out of every 10 preschool children having shown below normal weight.

Other towns with poor performance in fighting malnutrition are Gamay in Northern Samar (32.39%), Sta. Margarita in Samar (31.78%), Pastrana in Leyte (30.76%), Sta. Rita in Samar (29.76%), San Isidro in Northern Samar (29.73%), Lavezares in Northern Samar (29.48%), San Miguel in Leyte (29.21%), Sto. NiƱo in Samar (29.2%), and Lope de Vega in Northern Samar (28.54%).

Nutrition officials will visit the nutritionally depressed areas to assist in local planning.

Eastern Visayas has 105,241 malnourished children, representing 18.22% of preschoolers weighed in 2009.

Ms. Santiago said Samar province posted the highest malnutrition prevalence in 2009 at 25.95%, slightly up from 2008’s 26.03%.

Northern Samar, which used to be the most nutritionally depressed province in the region, showed an improvement as malnutrition rate decreased to 23.62% in 2009 from 26.32% in 2008.

Ms. Santiago said the fight against malnutrition should start during pregnancy. Breast-feeding should be followed with proper complimentary feeding.-Sarwell Q. Meniano