A question to residents of private subdivisions: is your water safe enough for drinking?
Even as Santa Cruz, Laguna continues to deal with the issue of water supply and quality brought by the failures of PrimeWater Infrastructure, Corp., another private water firm in the town has been singled out for allegedly supplying residents with contaminated water.
Santa Cruz Mayor Benjo Agarao has issued a cease-and-desist order against Happy Management and Collection Services (Happy Well), which provides water supply for a private subdivision in the town, for multiple violations.
The order, issued January 12, said that Happy Well has been operating without a valid business permit or a mayor's permit and had ignored two written notices issued by the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) to comply with regulations.
Not only that, tests conducted by the Santa Cruz Municipal Health Office found that the water supply inside the subdivision was found positive for coliform bacteria.
Meanwhile, the local government unit, with assistance from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Santa Cruz Water District (SCWD), has organized emergency water rationing to affected residents to tide them over until Happy Well is allowed to operate again.
"Ang hakbang na ito ay hindi upang pahirapan ang sinuman, kundi upang ipatupad ang batas, panagutin ang mga lumalabag, at tiyakin na ang kapakanan ng mamamayan ang inuuna," the LGU said in a statement.
This is the latest in a series of incidents where the municipal government of Santa Cruz has had to intervene directly to resolve the town's long-standing issues regarding water supply.
Since November last year, SCWD has been operating the town's main water supply after the LGU suspended the business permit of PrimeWater due to the latter's alleged failures in its mandate.
Aside from low water pressure, PrimeWater has also been charged of failing to ensure the quality of its water supply after four out of its 10 pumping stations were found to have high levels of coliform bacteria.
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