By Zaldy Comanda

BAGUIO CITY – “We will not have any problems with water supply this summer season, because the Baguio Water District has responded to our request to increase or increase the construction of deep wells,” said Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

According to Magalong, BAWADI’s program to build 10 deep wells per year is ongoing. “Last year, they built 12 deep wells and this year they are targeting to build 10 more deep wells.

He said the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), together with local governments, are also continuing inspections of illegal deep wells.

It is expected that some private deep wells will be closed, especially in areas that are unsafe and do not comply with regulations, especially in sanitation.

“More than 600 deep wells are considered colorum, the majority of these deep wells are actually unsafe, so they are unregulated, so these are the ones we are focusing on, so we are reducing illegal unregulated deep wells.”

According to Magalong, BAWADI is very responsive in digging for deep wells and there is also a project that aims to build Rainwater Harvesting Facilities in the Buyog Watershed worth P50 million.

He said that improvements are also ongoing in the three Rainwater Harvesting Facilities in the Busol Watershed, which is the main source of water in the city.

“We are still monitoring the Busol Watershed with the help of our police force, to prevent illegal settlers from entering it. It is important that we monitor it, because otherwise it will be a huge problem if we lose our water supply,”

“It is good that we are not experiencing any drought, unlike in 2023 to 2024 when we experienced eight months of water supply shortage, but now we will not experience this,” Magalong said.