MIWD assures safety of barangay residents of Maasin
The management of Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) has assured the residents of Barangays Buntalan, Cabatac and Liñagan in Maasin that the leak caused by the gas chlorine in its sedimentation facility has been contained and there is no cause for them to be alarmed.
Ernesto Caberoy, presently the officer in-charge of MIWD, said that the one-tonner gas chlorine cylinder was already pulled out of the sedimentation basin facility in Barangay Buntalan and transferred to the water treatment plant in Barangay Talanghauan, Santa Barbara to be neutralized.
Caberoy further declared that Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation, MIWD's supplier of gas chlorine, has already sent its men to check on and fix the problem.
It can be recalled that on Tuesday, January 1, 2008, at around 9:00 a.m., the spindle of the chlorine cylinder loosened due to pressure causing the tank to leak.
MIWD staff assigned at the sedimentation basin immediately took remedial measures to stop the leak. However, at around 7 p.m., the tank leaked again. This prompted the staff to bury the cylinder tank and cover it with soil and lime to neutralize the odor.
The people residing in the immediate vicinity of the facility, especially on the windward side, were informed, too, of the incident and were reassured that certain actions were undertaken to contain the minimal leak.
Incident report from the MIWD's Operations Department disclosed that the approximated distance from the leak to the residential area was 300 meters.
Upon ocular inspection, it was found out that the affected area was only about 10-meter radius as some and not all of the planted shrubs withered within the said radius and the odor of the leaked chlorine in the vicinity of the facility immediately weakened by the ambient air, according to the report.
At the time of the leak, the cylinder was filled with 500 kilograms of gas chlorine.
In the meantime, a regular monitoring of the facility is being done to ensure the safety of the operation as well as the public within the vicinity.
MIWD has been using gas chlorine for the disinfection of its surface water supply.