The city government of Zamboanga in coordination with the Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) is ready to extract water from the bog lake in San Roque using the mobile filtration machine.

City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Elmeir Apolinario told the press briefing yesterday that the machine arrived in the city last April 1 from Tacloban City through the courtesy of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional offices 9 and 11.

The mobile filtration machine can draw potable water up to 3,000 liters per hour with a maximum operation of eight hours a day.

According to the ZCWD, the water from the bog lake in San Roque filtered by the mobile water filtration machine passed the turbidity test for the physical and chemical properties of water.

However, a final bacteriological test has yet to be done on the bog lake water and if it will pass then that’s the time it can be extracted and used for human consumption.

The process is to store the bog lake water to the tanks of the CDRRMO from which the water will be delivered by the ZCWD to the highly elevated areas and inject it into the pipe system to boost the water supply.

In the meantime, the city government is now in the procurement process for the City Mayor’s Office Agricultural and Fishery Modernization Program for 2019 amounting to P32.784 million.

To be purchased are organic fertilizers amounting to P14 million, knapsack sprayers P5.4 million, water hose and tunneling film P2 million, urban gardening project P2.7 million; seaweed seedlings, milkfish fry and fishing gears P7.2 million, cooking equipment P3.2 million, and module preparation for agricultural trainings P4.3 million.

These items are now with the Bids and Awards Committee for procurement process per RA 9184.-(Vic Larato)