in all 34 SCWD-served barangays, expecting the increase in potable water demand as residents of Sorsogon City stay at their homes in a bid to prevent the spread of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Despite the work from home arrangement and two-person office skeletal force under the prevailing Enhanced Community Quarantine, the SCWD Contract Monitoring Unit continues to ensure that both PrimeWater-Sorsogon City and Abejo Waters Corp. are operating on full capacity as allowed by the national and local government, even as these two private water service providers are also adopting alternative work arrangements and physical distancing measures among their pump operators and technical personnel.

On April 7, IGM Tejada led the troubleshooting of the Abuyog Booster Station to maximize the bulk water production from Casiguran Water District, immediately feeling the results as volume measured jumped from 700 cmd up to more than 1000 cmd on the following day.

On April 6, he personally checked the status of San Pascual, San Isidro and San Vicente Pumping Stations at Bacon District which presently serve close to 7,000 residents in eight barangays. At the Barangay Poblacion Sub-office, he checked on the revival of the 200-cu m steel bolted tank and booster pump which would serve as back-up should any of the three Bacon deepwell sources shuts down.

On April 1, it was the AWC Sorsogon Bulk Water Supply treatment plant and a number of West District pumping stations which IGM Tejada visited to validate reports from concessionaires experiencing low pressure/ no water at Barangay Pangpang. AWC delivers approximately 4,200 cmd in bulk supply which is complemented by supply from Imperial and Macabog deepwells and yield from spring sources.

Assisting IGM Tejada in the regular water status monitoring are personnel from the SCWD Engineering and Operations Department. On March 20, March 31 and April 6, SCWD Division Manager Engr. Alejandro L. Alama and Plumber/ Inventory Aide Renato M. Lirio checked the availability and sufficiency of granular chlorine for disinfection as well as fuel and batteries for stand-by generator sets at all pumping stations and at AWC, Macabog Reservoir, Abuyog Tank and Cabid-an Tank. They also talked with on-duty operators on challenges encountered especially with the curfew, checkpoint and regulated movements during the ECQ.

In terms of terms of water quality, SCWD submitted on April 6 to Sorsogon City Mayor Ma. Ester E. Hamor and OIC City Health Officer Dr. Rolando E. Dealca the daily and monthly water quality reports for March 2020. This includes the regular system-wide residual chlorine and turbidity testing and the daily water quality monitoring at the AWC injection point, Barangay Guinlajon performed by Senior Laboratory Technician Charmaine B. Mandane, RMT and Laboratory Aide Wilfredo T. Doctor Jr as well the results of the monthly microbiological analysis of 18 water samples analyzed at the Dr. Fernando B. Duran Sr. Memorial Hospital, Barangay Macabog.

For their part, PrimeWater-Sorsogon City urges the public to immediately report any water supply irregularities as there is a stand-by maintenance crew ready for dispatch. Such was the case on April 3, when PrimeWater pulled out the defective variable frequency drive at the Cabid-an Pumping Station which affected barangays Cabid-an, Balogo and Almendras-Cogon until normal operation was restored at around 5 PM of April 7.

Water supply facilities are among the few establishments allowed to operate when the ECQ was imposed over the entire Luzon on March 17, 2020. In a meeting on March 25, IGM Tejada assured PrimeWater-Sorsogon City of all assistance from SCWD to guarantee uninterrupted water supply for Sorsogon City. On April 3, the Local Water Utilities Administration through Memorandum Circular No. 06-20 directed all local water districts to comply with the memorandum from the National Water Resources Board to ensure efficient water supply services related to the management/ control of COVD-19.