CABANATUAN CITY - The Cabanatuan City Water District (CCWD)
has identified new sources for the city’s water supply outside its present main
source of potable water for its 28,000-plus concessionaires.
Arthur Villasan, CCWD chairman of the board, said that their
office has commissioned a study for the search for alternative source of water
other than its present site in order not to fully strain it, and to enable the
same to regenerate or recharge for at least the next five years.
Fearing that the 32-year operation of the city’s water system
might take its toll on the existing aquifer here, Villasan said the board has
decided to look for an alternative source of aquifer to ensure the viability and
continued efficient delivery of service of the local water system.
In this connection, Mayor Julius Cesar "Jay" Vergara has
sounded the need for expansion of the CCWD’s water service especially in at
least four barangays of Polilio, Babao-Bana, Talipapa and Pamaldan which have
been traversed by the Felipe Vergara highway.
Envisioning that these areas primarily need potable water
service with the prospect of business enterprises to follow the full
operationalization of the 810-meter-long Cesar Vergara toll bridge, the mayor
said the area would be the next commercial hub of the city.
The opening of the vital road network opens a new route for
the farm produce from nearby Aliaga, Quezon and Licab towns and the general
traffic regularly using the Maharlika Highway emanating from the rest of Nueva
Ecija through the Cagayan Valley provinces.
Villasan said that one of the new sources of water for the
city residents is located somewhere in the northeastern part of the city.
Regidor de Leon, DENR Regional Director, has recently cited
findings of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños of an impending water
crisis in the Central Luzon area.
He cited possible shortage of water for domestic, agricultural and industrial
uses which he said would be mostly likely felt in the next five years, becoming
severe by 2025, unless conservation measures are undertaken by the local
governments.
