Kidapawan LGU starts water rationing to drought stricken communities

KIDAPAWAN CITY --The city government has started on Monday water rationing in areas hardest hit by El Nino phenomenon. City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said most of those that received rationed potable water were indigenous peoples from Sitios Quarry, Nazareth, and Puas Inda in Barangay Amas and in Sitio Lika in Barangay Onica. These villages get their drinking water from wells, which, according to reports from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, started to dry up because of the dry spell. Each household received on Monday 25 liters of rationed water from the city government. Evangelista said the local government purchased water in volume from the Metro Kidapawan Water District (MKWD), the biggest provider of potable water in North Cotabato. The MKWD, according to the mayor, has agreed to allow the use of water hydrants for the water rationing project. Initially, the city government bought three huge polyvinyl chloride water tanks with the capacity of at least a thousand liters each. Evangelista explained the water rationing will continue during the entire period of the dry spell, which might continue until the second quarter of the year. During the El Nino, we will prioritize the provision of clean drinking water to affected residents,” he said. He reminded beneficiaries that the rationed water would only be for drinking and cooking purposes only. The water rationing started two weeks after the city was placed under ‘state of calamity.’