Staff reporter
Laoag
City—"Drinking from the tap”, a phrase people
have long been using as the norm in terms of the potability of service water.
The status of service water, not being drinkable from the tap, which is similar
in most cities and municipalities in the Philippines could possibly be due to
several reasons, such as old pipe systems of houses and of the utilities,
damaged pipes, and illegal connections, to name a few.
With sufficient capital and
appropriate technical knowledge, water distribution utilities can replace old
and damaged pipes, but illegal connections are of different matter; it becomes
a social challenge.
In the case of illegal
connections, it highlights the shared responsibility of taking care of the
water network between the customer and the utility. It is because both parties
feel the adverse effects of illegal connections are: the water utility is
having an increased non-revenue water (NRW) level, while the consumers
experience low water pressure to no water situations, dirty water, or worse,
contaminated water.
Given the fact that illegal
connections use pipes not based on standard materials and procedures, they will
fail. Such breakdown may cause the clean water to leak out—due to high pressure
in the pipe—hence, causing the low pressure to no water situations downstream
of the pipe; or worse, dirty to contaminated water may seep in once the pipe
pressure further reduces, given the pipes are under ground and for some areas
within the canals and drainage systems.
According to the report of
the Public Health Surveillance Division, Epidemiology Bureau, Department of
Health, they recorded a lot of food and waterborne diseases from January 1 to
June 3, 2017: 6,701 cases of acute bloody diarrhea with 36 deaths’ 28 cases of confirmed
cholera; 804 cases of confirmed rotavirus; 196 cases of hepatitis A; and 7,795
cases of typhoid with 11 deaths.
In view of these numbers,
PrimeWater Ilocos Norte has expressed alarm, and is urging everyone to do everything
they can to mitigate this adversity.
The water utility also
encourages everyone to be vigilant and report all unauthorized and suspicious
activities done on any part of the water network and help protect the health of
the community.
They said they are hopeful
that with everyone’s cooperative efforts, both the utility and consumers “will
be able to drink again from the tap”.
You may report these cases to PrimeWater Ilocos Norte
through these numbers (077) 772-0985, 0917-8651430, 0999-9977656.
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