Tiwi town under state of calamity, too
ALBAY, Philippines—More than a week after declaring Sto. Domingo town under state of calamity due to water shortage, the local government of Tiwi here has also put their entire town yesterday, September 29, at the same state for the same reason.
According to Mayor Jaime Villanueva, the cause of water shortage is due to the low level of water in their water reservoirs that is typically caused by the south winds or Habagat.
This is in contrast of the recent declaration of state of calamity in Sto. Domingo where the drought is affected by the abnormal activities of Mayon Volcano.
“Everytime that there’s a Habagat, the pressure of water in our reservoir decreases. And this is being worsen by the extreme heat that we had experienced for the past months,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva also said that their government had a partial discourse to the problem by setting morning and evening schedules for some water supplies to reach residential areas.
Beyond the schedules, however, residents cut water pipes from several areas in a barangay in order for them to collect additional water supply for a day.
“The water does not reach our homes so we have to source out water by cutting water pipes outside,” resident Cielo Consuelo said.
Because of the declaration of state of calamity, the municipality of Tiwi have access to its calamity funds for relief efforts.
Residents like Consuelo meanwhile, are expecting that the problem of water shortage will be fully solved immediately, especially with the onset of the rainy season.
