LUCENA CITY—The Quezon provincial government gave a 6-wheeler water tank truck to the Quezon Metropolitan Water District (QMWD) on July 3 that will supply water to 42,000 users in this city, Tayabas and Pagbilao.
In ceremonies on Friday, Quezon Gov. David C. Suarez turned over the 8-cubic meter water tanker painted in black and bearing his name. Suarez said the tanker will deliver potable water also to outlying barangays.
Suarez said he might “as well extend a helping hand to improve [the water agency’s] service delivery” to users as he lamented that whenever the media criticized the QMWD, the provincial government under his watch also gets hit.
He added that after two months, or by October, he would donate another water tank truck, which can carry 6 cu. meter, to the QMWD. Suarez said there are other villages still not reached by the water agency’s service.
QMWD General Manager Enrico Pasumbal told Suarez the agency is having difficulty in finding additional water sources to add to the water supply and many barangays, especially in Tayabas. Pasumbal added village chiefs also do not give water permits “so the QMWD is forced to buy lots that have a water spring.”
Suarez said he will talk with barangay officials and farmer irrigators who refuse to grant permit for water sources to the QMWD.
QMWD Information Officer Imee Flores Tumacder said a P13-million deep-well project is being built in the QMWD compound, while transmission lines are to be interconnected from Barangay Isabang in Tayabas to Barangay Isabang in this city.
Tumacder said about 68 percent of QMWD’s consumers are in Lucena city, while the rest are in Tayabas and Pagbilao.
Members of the city council have criticized the water agency, citing its “poor and erratic” delivery. They also promised to pass a resolution to set up another water district for city residents.