MARIVELES, Bataan — Water supply in the Freeport Area of Bataan here that has 95 multinational firms presently operating with more than 38,000 workers is not yet affected by the hot weather experienced in the country.
“Fortunately, there is still no effect on us,” said administrator Emmanuel Pineda of the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan in an interview Wednesday. AFAB operates and supervises FAB.
Pineda said the AFAB dam is the source of water supply of the FAB, the locators and residents of two villages inside the FAB, Barangay Maligaya and Barangay Malaya and temporarily, of Barangay Baseco Country.
“Ngayong tag-init ang concern namin ay ang minimum dahil baka kapusin pero sa tingin naman namin ay hindi kami kakapusin dahil ang minimum level based sa design ay kaya niyang mag-supply ng tubig na kung hindi ako nagkakamali ay nasa 127 meters,” he furthered.
The dam supported by 1,500 hectares of a forested and well-protected watershed has a capacity of 2.4 billion gallons of water complemented by a water treatment plant. It is capable of delivering 14 million gallons of water every day.
“Eh, nasa 153 meters ang water level ngayon kaya palagay namin ay hindi kami kakapusin and in fact kapag umuulan ay nagpapakawala pa kami ng tubig,” Pineda noted.
He said that there is an ongoing study on the AFAB dam to assess its actual capacity, performance and integrity, especially during critical floods. Included in the study are historical records as to the biggest floods 50, 100, and 500 years ago to know how strong the dam is and the volume of water it can hold.
With its normal operating level at 158 meters, the dam can withstand critical floods, he added.
Pineda said the dam was designed to exclusively supply water to the Mariveles freeport but for humanitarian considerations consented to supply water to Sitio Bato-Bato in Baseco Country where there are many informal settlers.
He said this is only temporary while the Mariveles Water District is looking for a water source. “Umaasa kami na mahahanapan ito ng water source ng Mariwad dahil gusto rin namin na masiguro na all year round hindi kakapusin ng tubig ang mga investor.”
