The Davao City Council is looking seriously at the application of two companies seeking permit to operate bottling plants in Barangay Binugao, Toril district, identified as water resource areas and sitting atop the aquifer of the city.
SMI Corporation and Interveb Corporation are seeking reclassification into heavy industrial zones of their properties for plants for bottled water and soft drinks operations.
The applications were heard during a hearing last Tuesday by the committee on housing, rural and urban development chaired by councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling.
At the hearing, Rey Chavez, head of the Davao City Water District (DCWD) engineering division, said the water district is interposing no objection to the project being outside of the DCWD area of operations.
But Chavez bared water extraction from the aquifer by both private and public wells currently stand at 5,000 liters per second or a mere 2,000 liters below the threshold of 7,000 liters per second.
The bottling projects are water resource-intensive and will be digging wells for the bottling and operational needs.
Chavez’s position appears to downplay present efforts by DCWD to tap surface water in Panigan and Tamugan rivers in Calinan district to ease pressure on the aquifer, where the water firm pumps out water for the city’s needs. - PNA
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