Urban water system must be protected during disasters

A UNITED Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)-funded research strongly urged Davao City policymakers to include protecting urban water systems (UWS) in their disaster risk reduction and management plan to avoid contamination in times of disasters.

The P1.8-million research conducted by Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy (Help) Davao Network entitled Demonstration Site on "Enhancing Resilience to Disasters of Urban Water Systems of Mindanao (focusing on Davao City)" seeks to measure the vulnerability of the city's (UWS) to "big flood," thereby, coming up with an effective resilience and development plan.

The study started February 2016.

"The contamination may come from any leaks in flooded pipes from spring or hand pump wells or Davao City Water District pipes. Flood waters may bring with them bacteria or microbes or chemical (water-borne) pollutants," Gamboa added.

Gamboa emphasized that they found out that the DRRM plans of the barangays, the city, and concerned line agencies are only focused on people's safety.

"The plan is good as we should always put the lives of people on top but we should also protect the UWS to ensure that water is immediately made available to affected areas as well. We don't need to wait for the big flood to happen, we just have to be prepared," Gamboa said.

Gamboa said that as water considered as the most basic service system for a population to bounce back after disasters like flood, the study focuses on the water supply system of the Davao City Water District, "seeing this as an important source for domestic and commercial consumption."

The study said that Barangays 1-A, Calinan and 8-A are the three barangays with the biggest flood-prone area, while the three barangays with UWS most vulnerable to the big flood are Mandug, Lubogan and Tigatto.

The eight-pipe bridge crossings in Bucana, Ma-a, Talomo and Calinan; one production well and one water treatment facility in Lubogan; and two reservoirs in Mandug areas are found to be most vulnerable to flood in the city's urban water system.

Gamboa said that it can be considered as a big flood if the depth of the flood's most edge area is at 1.5 meters. But no incident of big flood was recorded in the city.

The study, which will be publicly presented October 20, during the Davao City Multi-Stakeholders Conference on Sustainability Science at SMX Convention Center, Lanang, Davao City, has three components, all in the efforts on looking at the four river systems in the city, namely, Davao River Basin, Lasang Watershed, Lipadas Watershed and Talomo Watershed "in the event of a 100-year return flood and determine which barangays are most vulnerable to big floods."

The three components are assessing the state of the urban water systems in Davao City, strengthening integrated planning and coordination to enhance resilience in the management of the water systems, and raising awareness on climate change adaptation among stakeholders by demonstrating resilience.

Is Davao City flood resilient? Based on initial assessments, DCWD said that water pipes are laid underground and are not affected by the floods which often occur on the surface.

These also have stop valves that can prevent the contaminated water from being distributed.

"They (DCWD) assured us that the facilities are not located in flood-prone areas," Gamboa said.

Gamboa said that during their dialogue, DCWD vowed to take the recommendations made from the study. The study also identified Barangay Bucana, Ma-a, and Talomo as the top three with highest adaptive capacity due to high Internal Revenue Allotment, households with access to safe water, and disaster preparedness.

Davao City Water District spokesperson Bernard Delima, in a recent interview, said they will look into the study to ensure sustainable and safe UWS in Davao.

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Taxonomy

• Pollution
• Freshwater
• Flood Management
• Stormwater
• Urban Water
• Sewage
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Climate Change Resilience