Zamboanga City Water District clarifies the new water rationing schedule will provide for eight (8) hours of water service daily, down from its previous schedule providing for twelve (12) hours as earlier imposed last January 8, 2016.

In an earlier press release, the district revealed, Effective today January 27th 2016 a, water rationing schedules for the city’s sectors will be reduced to eight hours a day with water from the present 12 hours.

The new schedule which took effect yesterday at 5:00PM is four (4) hours less than the previous schedule as water district officials disclosed water levels at the diversion dam has dipped to 74.06 and inflow into its production plants dropped considerably the past two weeks due to the absence of rainfall.

Rainfall is the natural recourse in replenishing aquifiers of the city and improving water depth in the Tumaga River the main source of water inflow to the ZCWD filtration plant in Pasonanca.

ZCWD Civil Relations Sector head Edgardo Lorenzo D. Baños made the clarification to correct impression water service has been reduced to four (4) hours instead of the eight (8) hours reported.

Water district officials are closely monitoring the water inflow situation even as mitigation measures are being contemplated to help improve the situation.

Among these is the implementation of a cloud seeding operation to induce rainfall in the city.

The city is in the midst of a debilitating ‘El Nino’ phenomenon, described by PAGASA as one of the worst to hit Zamboanga in the past few years.

The state weather bureau projects the hot spell to persist until middle of this year.

During El Nino, dry spell coupled with hot weather prevail, which affects water supply in surface water sources.

The city gets 80 percent of its water inflow from surface water.