DCWD taps Bgy. Cebuda main line
50-year wait for water now over

The long wait for water is now over as residents of Purok 5, Barangay Cebuda in Bago Oshiro, Mintal this city finally saw water oozing from the main water line of the area. This came after the Davao City Water District tapped the main water line last Thursday, March 27.

“The residents of barangay Cebuda can now start applying for their own water connection,” councilor Rachel Zozobrado said yesterday. The construction of the water line was a project was a project of the late councilor Jesus Zozobrado but lack of communication and other problems delayed the full implementation of the project years after it was completed.

Zozobrado, who witnessed DCWD’s tapping of the main water line, said “at long last niagas na gyud ang tubig diri sa Purok 5.”

The project encountered delays after the Bureau of Plant Industries refused to cooperate with the barangay and then accused the residents of the area as squatters. The project was already completed but DCWD earlier refused to activate the main water line sans the payment of the disinfection fee.

Zozobrado however criticized DCWD for not informing them about the fee earlier so as to fasttrack the project. Engineer Rosendo Almonte, chief of DCWD’s Planning and Design Division said they may have been remiss when they failed to include the P11,839.70 disinfection fee in the work program.

“Nalipay gyud mi kay diri na mi nanigulang pero wala pa gyud mi nakabitan ug tubig,” Sitio Cebuda resident Gloria Sarucam said. Sarucam has been living in Purok 5, Barangay Cebuda in Bago Oshiro all her life. She is now 49 years old. Her five children and her several grandchildren were all born, brought up and presently living in the same barangay for several decades already.
Sarucam said the water from the artesian well can only be used for cleaning and washing but not for drinking. “Pero mauga man gud sya (artesian well) kay gamay lang ang tubig unya daghan pa gyud linta nga musaka kung maugahan (water from the artesian well easily dries up and lots of leech come out of the well when the water is too low) ” she added.

With the activation of the main water line and the possibility of their applications being approved by DCWD, Sarucam and the other residents of Purok 5 no longer have to buy water at P1.50 per container per gallon.

Zozobrado said it is high time that the people of Purok 5, Sitio Cebuda are given a chance to be able to get their own water lines for the first time in 50 years.