This was the gist of a statement issued by Engr. Rodora Gamboa, General Manager of the Davao City Water District.
Major power firm Hedcor is putting up a hydropower plant in Tamugan in Calinan, designed to tap water from the Tamugan River.
Hedcor is an affiliate of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc., and owns and operates 16 hydro plants across the country.
Gamboa said Hedcor’s plans to build a hydro plant may affect the volume of the water resources in the area. Eventually, a major depletion may compromise the city’s access to safe drinking water, she said.
“We are opposing the Hedcor project because our groundwater will be affected by it. We already have a water permit there,” she said in a statement.
DCWD has already filed separate protests with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the Dept. of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In a briefing before the City Council last Tuesday, Hedcor president Rene Ronquillo said
that DCWD can get better water if it tapped the company's pipeline. But Gamboa would counter later that “we don't want to tap to their pipeline,” suggesting a disinclination to develop a relationship based on dependence.
For procedural reasons, the City Council refused to give the DCWD due time to air its side of the issue during Hedcor’s briefing. (DCWD)
