ANGELES CITY — Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. on June 3 gave Prime water until the end of this month to put an end to the water problem that is besetting the city’s 22 out of the 33 barangays.
Lazatin also ordered the officials of Prime Water to attend the investigation of the City Council on the water situation.
In a meeting with Prime Water officials, Lazatin told them “that our people suffered enough. They also need to know the real situation and what the provider is doing.”
“Ang kailangan po nating hanapin at ibigay ay ‘yung mga solutions na dapat gawin dahil ang pinaka-apektado po rito ay ang ating mga kababayan na nagbabayad ng tama pero hindi nasusuklian ng tamang pagseserbisyo,” Lazatin said.
The city has set another joint committee meeting with Prime Water on June 7, 2022 at the City Council Session Hall at 10 am.
Prime Water has failed to attend the first committee hearing and instead issued a letter, stating two main reasons behind the water problem in the city — constant re-piping and power outage.
In the letter, Prime Water mentioned power failure and continuous re-piping as primary factors for the problems, saying that there was a power outage for three days leading to the massive water shortage.
Councilor Jesus “Jay” Sangil, Chairman of the Committee of Public Utility, said Prime Water’s commitment should be to present a program or plan regarding the water problem. Prime Water has yet to present a plan — nor any band-aid solutions such as generators to continue using water pumps for when there are electric outages.
“There should be due diligence. They have to educate us, sabihin po nila talaga honestly kung ano po ang situation and condition ng water sa Angeles City. Dapat sakanila po manggaling para hindi tayo nagsspeculate,” he furthered.
Sangil also shared the findings of their initial investigation.
He said there are five boosters for water pressure. These boosters are placed in various pumping station to put pressure on the water supply. However, one booster malfunctioned, and the other three boosters are closed during the night — only one booster has been working at nighttime.
“This could have been the reason behind Angeleños’ complaints on little to no water at all during the night,” Sangil said.
“Kailangan po talaga nilang makipag-upuan upang maharap at malutas ang problema,” Sangil added.
“We are partners [Prime Water and Angeles City Government]. Hindi po nakikipag-away ang city government sa water provider. Given the problem, ang mga concessioners po ng Prime Water ay constituents natin. So ang problema, pagtulungan po natin,” Sangil shared.
“Prime Water is expected to present a short, mid, and long-term solution for the water woes of the residents. Other solutions like expansion and rehabilitation programs for the city are also highly-anticipated by the body. A system is also expected to be introduced for the next five to 10 years,” Sangil added.