DCWD

THE WHOLE day the other day, and most likely yesterday, we had the worst misfortune of our lives. As we started writing this piece at about 2 in the afternoon yesterday, not a single drop of water came out from our faucets in our rural residence in Talandang, Tugbok District. But the water service outage actually started at about 7 in the morning last Thursday.

Adding to the whammy was the fact that on the night of last Wednesday, we disposed of what was left of the water we had stored. The reason is that the water was already stocked for several weeks, as, luckily, we have not experienced a water service interruption for some time already. Other than that, we saw the stored water was no longer safe for household use because there were already mosquito wrigglers squirming.

We readied the storage containers to be refilled early the next day or Thursday morning. However, when we woke up, the water pressure was already very low, and by our estimate, it would not even be able to fill one container even after two hours.

Worst, by 7 in the morning, the water was completely gone from our faucets. But since we were hoping that it would not take long for the Davao City Water District (DCWD) to restore its service, we did not call the water agency. Instead, we left the house to go to our editorial office at the Mindanao Times for some important concerns.

When we came back roughly before noon last Thursday, the water service still had not come back. And that was when we hurriedly communicated with the DCWD’s information dissemination team to inquire what had happened and when the service would be back.

The answer we received at 3:56 p.m. was somewhat vague since it merely said that the unit had received reports that there was some kind of leak in one of its transmission pipes. It added that the water agency’s field men were validating and verifying the report and locating the leak.

The same DCWD information unit assured us that it will be giving us an update on the progress of the verification and validation once the field team is able to locate the leak and a crew is sent to do the necessary repair.

We were expecting that feedback would be provided in the late afternoon. But none came. At 4:38 and 5:55 pm also of last Thursday, we again inquired as to the update of the agency’s monitoring and verification crew.

Night came, still no water, and no update was given either. So we communicated directly with the information unit head Ms. JC Duhaylungsod. Her answer was basically similar to her team members’ – that the report of pipe leakage was still verified, and the location of the leaking pipe was being traced.

Friday morning came, and still no water from our faucets. We again communicated directly with JC, and she told us she was not quite aware of the water outage in our area as she was in Davao Oriental doing a relief operation.

She assured us, however, that, again, updates will be provided to us since the concerned unit will be through with its assigned work. Unfortunately, as we started writing this column shortly after lunch yesterday, no update came. And water was still totally absent from our faucets.

We really do not have any idea when the water service in our place will be back. At 4 in the afternoon yesterday, the service was still not restored. For now, we have to buy the costly mineral water in a large container just to be able to do effective cleaning of our household utensils. We also have to hire some able-bodied male neighbors to pitch water from a creek to be used for cleaning comfort rooms.

For the last two days, the members of our household have had to endure without a bath. They have to contend with just wiping their bodies with whatever mineral water is left after satisfying cooking needs.

Honestly, we submit that water distribution to consumers will always be haunted by the possibility of interruptions at any time of the day or any day of the week. That is the risk such a service faces. And we can understand it very well. But what gets the goat out of us and every consumer is the failure of some of the water firm’s people to honestly confront issues surrounding the outages.

Say, what happened in the 2-day service interruption that hit our place? After half a day of the water outage, the information team tells consumers making inquiries that the unit has received reports that a leak exists and that the firm’s concerned unit was doing validation and verification of the report.

We assumed, too, that until yesterday afternoon, the same team had not validated the report and therefore no repair crew was fielded to address the problem. And why are we saying such? It is simply because until late past 3 p.m. yesterday, no update was given – an indication that the members of the communications team forgot their commitment to provide updates.

But there is one thing that DCWD never forgets to do. That is, to impose penalty of every delayed payment of water bills. Be late by one day after the deadline and the consumer will be slapped with a P50 penalty. And this increases by the day.

Is there no government agency or body, local or national, that regulates the determination of the amount of the penalty?

One more thing: The same water firm includes a component of its monthly bill “Meter Maintenance” charge. Yet, in the many years that we have our water connection in both our houses in Catalunan Grande and in our rural residence in Talandang, Tugbok district we never had the opportunity to see any DCWD personnel doing meter maintenance work.

Is the scheme a way of an endless recovery of the cost of water meters installed in every consumer residential, commercial or industrial? We are just asking.