BCWD fully operates the Infiltration Gallery By-pass Line
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The Butuan City Water District (BCWD), in partnership with the Taguibo Aquatech Solutions Company (TASC), is now operating the by-pass line of the Infiltration Gallery. The facility was completed and has started functioning on March 31, 2015 as a means of increasing production of potable water for the almost 40,000 concessionaires of BCWD.
Emergency purchase of uPVC pipes cost BCWD a total of P922,020.00 which was supposed to be provided by the Local Government Unit of Butuan through the commitment of City Mayor Ferdinand M. Amante Jr. However, the said amount was not released to BCWD due to allegedly lack of funds. The uPVC pipes arrived at the premises of BCWD on February 28, 2015. Site clearing and excavation works followed soon after which were started on March 5, 2015 by the partner Company of BCWD. Laying of the uPVC pipes was done on March 9, 2015 together with the other type of pipes.
While the construction of the by-pass line was on-going, a bigger volume of BCWD’s water supply was dependent on the operation of the pumping stations and a small percentage coming from the infiltration gallery, after having been partially declogged. Production of water at the Filtration Plant averaged only at 500 cubic meters per hour.
With the operation of the by-pass line, water production at the Filtration Plant increased to 800 up to 1,000 cubic meters an hour. As of April 2015, BCWD has already attained the 100% water supply distributed to its entire service area utilizing both the two (2) sources of water, such as ground and surface water.
The By-pass Line is an alternative method of extracting water from Taguibo River, conceptualized amidst the water crisis experienced by City of Butuan after Tropical Seniang damaged the Infiltration Gallery of the BCWD. The idea is to extract water through an intake box at the upstream of the Infiltration Gallery and convey water to the transmission line through a combination of reinforced concrete pipes, steel pipes and uPVC pipes. When the turbidity level of the water is high, water will be pumped to the desander / Filtration Facility of the TASC and the product water will be conveyed through the by-pass line toward the injection point at the transmission line. Through the desander / Filtration Facility, BCWD will still be able to deliver water to its concessionaires even if the water of the Taguibo River is very turbid during rainy weather.
As of press time, the desander facility of TASC is still under construction. Thus, during rainfall events at the watershed area, the serviced area of BCWD will still experience low pressure, and the extreme parts of the water system will have no supply of water.
The challenge of providing ample water supply to BCWD concessionaires is never ending. BCWD has been gearing toward the preparation in case another problem will occur with regards to the supply of water. In fact, as per observations of the technical personnel of BCWD, the water yield of the Taguibo River is now decreasing amidst the El Niño declared by the DOST-PAGASA. As such, should the Taguibo River dries up, the source of water for BCWD will be coming from the groundwater.
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