Health officials take action on coliform contamination

Health officials in Cebu have taken action on the coliform contamination of the water supply of Sogod Waterworks System in Sogod town.

Department of Health regional director Susana Madarieta instructed the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit to verify the information gathered by Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the high level of fecal coliform contamination of the waterworks system's water supply.

DENR ordered SWS to cease from operating following the discovery of the contamination. The SWS was one of the priority projects of Sogod Mayor Deo Durano through a P30 million loan from Land Bank of the Philippines.

Constructed in March 2003, SWS is serving 18 barangays comprising of 1,080 households. Its water sources come from a spring in barangay Bagatayam.

"Actually wala pa g'yud mi makadawat sa report sa DENR pero amo dayon ning paadtoan para ma check kay dilikado ni maadto ni sa mga kunsumidor," Madarieta said.

DOH is the agency that would issue operational permits to all waterworks system in the country, including that of Sogod.

RESU chief Renan Cimafranca said they would conduct another water sampling. "Usually g'yud basta mga government-owned waterworks system usahay dili na gyud ma atiman ug kuwang sa preventive measures."

"Panahon pag-uwan kanunay gyud lubog ang tubig nga mogawas," said Sogod municipal councilor Gamaliel Lumapas in an intervew over ABS-CBN TV Patrol-Cebu. He admitted that SWS has no chlorinator.

The waterworks system has put up a water connection in barangays Bawo, Poblacion, Bagatayam, Tabunok, Damulog and Calumbuyan. But the DENR team noted that there was no inter-connection between the new pipeline and the old pipeline.

The environmental team headed by Rogie Lee had collected water sample from the outlet pipe of SWS' reservoir tank.

"It showed the following values of total coliform of (greater than) 16 MPN/100 ml, which exceeds the requirement of National Standard for drinking water of (less than) 2.20 MPN/100 ml for fecal coliform (as per results of laboratory bacteriological analysis conducted last September 12-15, 2006)," Lee said in his report to his immediate superior, Marcelino Tabuco, and to the EMB director.

Another water samples were taken from the Tank No. 1 and Tank No. 2 of SWS and the results also exceeded the tolerable limit of 16 MPN for fecal coliform.

The EMB said the SWS officers are now in process of screening their contractors - Radiant Technologies, American Water Technologies and Van Guardia Contractor - on the project to put up additional water purifiers.

EMB has advised the SWS to desist from distributing water to its consumers and initiate upgrading measures to improve the potability of water. - Ramil V. Ayuman