Tabuk’s water quality probed

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) is conducting a legislative inquiry into persistent complaints on the quality of the water being served by the Tabuk Waters (TAWA), the private firm operating the water system of the city which was constructed through a loan from the World Bank.

Councilor Sandra Mejia, chairman of the committee on health, informed the media that the foremost concern of the SP is the rising level of manganese, copper and fluoride in the water, which, according to tests made by the TAWA last month and in December 2007, have gone beyond the safe range.

Mejia said that during the SP session on September 1, TAWA Assistant General Manager Rodolfo Yumol has assured that despite the increasing levels of the three substances, the water is still safe for human consumption but the body wants to make sure.

Mejia intends to immediately consult the Department of Health (DOH) regional office on the finding to know the implication to public health and safety of the increasing pattern of the substances in the TAWA water.

Mejia also informed that the TAWA has agreed that henceforth, she and Councilor Reamcy Adong, infrastructure committee chairman, will be present during the collection of water samples for physical and chemical properties test “to remove all doubts that the samples were taken elsewhere.”

“We also recommended to the TAWA more sampling points because we noticed that their present sampling points are not representative of all the areas in their coverage. For instance, they need to get samples in areas where many people congregate such as public markets,” Mejia said.

Regarding the complaints on murky and undesirable odor of TAWA water experienced by some consumers, Mejia quoted Yumol as saying that it is caused by ”suction pressure” which, according to him, happens when there is a sudden stoppage in water supply and which results into the entry of outside water into the pipeline through leaks.

Yumol went on to say that another possible explanation of the phenomena is the reaction between chemicals present in raw water and water treatment chemicals.

“I recommended to the TAWA that they should conduct periodic inspection and repairs of leaks in the pipes to prevent the contamination of the water. Even if there are sudden stoppage in the flow of the water if there are no leaks, outside water cannot seep into the pipeline,” Mejia said.

Mejia said that leaks are indeed dangerous because the water outside the pipes could contain contaminants such as solvents, petroleum products, metal degreasers and other chemicals.

Mejia said that during his appearance before the SP, Yumol did not say whether they have already complied with the earlier DOH recommendation for TAWA to install more chlorinators to answer the observation of some consumers of sudden increase and decrease of chlorine in the water.

Mejia said that the TAWA has no choice but to improve its water because there are already cases of consumers disconnecting on account of poor quality of water and defective meters.

“As of now, the number of consumers of the TAWA is not yet enough to maintain the sustainability of the water system. How will it be able to attract more consumers if it does not improve the quality of its water?” Mejia asked.

Because of the policy of the TAWA to only act on formal complaints, Mejia has urged the public to submit black and white complaints or contact the hotline of the firm.

“They require individual customer complaints but they were amenable when I told them to treat the legislative inquiry as a formal complaint and act on the issues and concerns raised,” Mejia said. ** By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW