Water sources of Sorsogon City include spring sources, pumping stations, and bulk water supply from Abejo Water Corp. and Casiguran Water District. Estimated daily productions sttands at 17,842 cubic meter per day at this time of the year.

Spring sources include Alinao 1, Alinao 3, Matacla 1 & 2, Matacla 3 and Anahaw 1 with estimated combined daily production of 1,285 cubic meters per day or just 7.20% of the daily production. It can however, go higher in the months of November, December, and January. Water sourced out from springs are of supreme quality mainly due to natural filtration process and the precence of natural occuring minerals. Almost always, the physical and chemical properties of spring water are compliant the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW). Based on experience, some of the disadvantages, however, are unstable flow (mostly dependent of rainfall), increase of yield is not possible, some risk of contamination, possibility of spring disappearance, and location not easily accessible.

Spring sources are located along the ranges of Mount Macabariw, Suminandig, and Alinao. Water extracted are channeled to a ground reservoir at Macabog, Sorsogon City with capacity of 950 cubic meters and to Baribag Reservoir with a capacity of 1,800 cubic meters. Influence areas of these reservoir are West District and portion of East District of the city.

Spring sources are also dependent on th forest cover and vegetation of the catchment area, usually the mountain where it is located or its adjacent one. The continuous denudation of our mountains in the city is very alarming. It is good to note, however, that the city and provincial government recently launched the 1-Million Trees program, aimed of protecting the forest including water sources. SCWD with its partners are presently conceptualizing on the propagation, planting and sustaining Bamboo Forest aimed of protecting the watershed. Bamboos, based on studies, are very good planting materials for watersheds. One hectare of bamboo forest can store over 30,000 liters of water in its culms, which is gradually deposited back in the soil during dry season. Massive planting of bamboo could be an alternative to large-scale dams.

Pumping stations are PS1 Baribag, PS2 Bibincahan, Ps4 Imperial, PS5 Villa Alegre, PS8 Cabid-an, PS9 Pamurayan, PS10 Guilajon, PS11 San Pascual, PS12 Macabog, PS14 San Isidro, PS15 San Vicente, PS16 Madanan, and PS17 San Lorenzo. Under normal circumstances, these pumping stations yeild 11,021 cubic meters per day or 61.77% of the total daily production. Output of these sources are affected by power supply interruptions, including but not limited to brownouts, power fluctuations, trip-offs and low voltage. Pumping stations usually require 440v while residential houses only need 220v. Availability of functioning gensets in good operating conditions is also vital. Pump operators play major roles in operating these sources. One operator should man these PS 24/7. SCWD has given directive to PrimeWater to comply with this requirement. (To be continued next issue)