BORONGAN, Eastern Samar – Many people in this town are complaining about the turbid water coming out of their faucets during rainy days, and the lack of water on dry weather days.

A city resident has complained that “the water crisis in the city is getting worse and there are many areas in this city where there is no water during sunny days while on rainy days, the water becomes polluted.”

Borongan Water District (BWD) general manager, Atty. Socrates Alar, Jr., has admitted in an interview that the Eastern Samar capital city, Borongan is currently “experiencing a water crisis.”

Alar disclosed during the interview that the primary cause of the water crisis in the city is the destruction of the forests where the Maybito Spring is located, which is upstream of Can-abong district about 10 kilometers from the city proper.

He said that during summer, the Maybito Spring, which serves the BWD, is unable to supply adequate water to consumers in Borongan as the water level drops to low levels and when heavy rainy weather, the water “becomes polluted.”

Alar also said that when the BWD started operating in 1984, the Maybito Spring was able to discharge as much as 35 liters of water per second, a volume which is more than enough to supply the city folks’ water requirements.

With the destruction of the 15,000 hectare Linal-an forest which covers Siha, Suribao and San Gabriel towns, the water discharged by the Maybito Spring was reduced to its lowest level of 2.5 liters per second.

He said that the destruction of the Linal-an forest greatly affects the quality of water during rainy days because silt, debris and other impurities that cause water pollution are carried from upstream of denuded portions of said Linal-an forest down to the Maybito Spring.

Alar also informed that from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, when settlers, kaingeros and timber poachers started to cut trees and made clearings in Linal-an forest, the BWD and other concerned groups in Borongan started to campaign for saving of the Linal-an forest, declaring this as a watershed and a protected area and invoking legal measures to cease the activities of settlers and kaingeros in effecting clearings in the area while also running after timber poachers cutting trees illegally.

Alar added that the BWD and other concerned groups in Borongan have already prepared the necessary papers declaring Linal-an forest as a watershed and protected area during time of former President Joseph Estrada. The decree, Alar said, was due for President Estrada’s signature, but unfortunately the latter was ousted from office before he could put his signature on it.