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