Servicing the tourist that much needed water

By Gina Dizon

Its summer time and water supply is again a problem. A big problem. Some springs have dried up and some emitting small volumes of water as compared to rainy months when springs are buoyant.

That  was  about three weeks ago when there was no rain, and barangay officials and I went around  Dagdag inquiring about number of households’ animal pets to include status of  water supply. At least seven households out 15 told me water has not been around in the past week.

I too, spent a night waiting for that much precious water come gurgling into the tank and nada, no water the whole night. And so decided to see the water custodian very early the next morning to find out what’s wrong. He said “awaan, talaga’y nammid. Ay sha nan aped ko winanwaned gedan id labi et bassi bassit nan bumala y dnum. (Naaaa, no water.  I spent the whole night walking up the source and there’s very small amount of water collected in the spring.)

 “Sha gedan nan katapitapi na” (same case with others), he added as he identified other decreased spring waters reaching households here at barangay Dagdag.

Dagdag has clustered sharing of water with as many as 20 households sharing one spring.  The spring which I share with other households have at least 14 plastic pipes lined up in the spot where we alternately connect respective plastic pipes to our homes.  The 14 connections have one to three households sharing one pipe/schedule.

Clustered neighborhood and relatives of the spring water manager share one spring. There are at least seven clustered spring connections I know in Dagdag. Others have their direct connections to their private springs leading to either a private home or an inn.

Dagdag had long been dependent from the Mission water with the ‘sakduan’ (tapstand) installed at sitioTangeb in the 60s. This was so until the ‘80s when the common tap stand disappeared and people have to hose their own springs irrigating their very own rice fields and instead let the waters come home.

Nearby Demang barangay had long been dependent on some established water sources namely Todey and KenGangud for those in Ambasing.  Patay had long been dependent on Tanap spring until now and people still line up their pails early in the morning for that precious pail of water, a sight seen some 30 years ago and still is the same sight till now. Now people here suspect the water is being siphoned electrically by some unscrupulous selfish individuals. How can this be possible I wonder?   

With residents having siphoned off water supposed to irrigate rice fields let this precious water reach homes for domestic use- for cooking, washing, cleaning and used up water to water backyard plants. Some who have opened their homes as home stays for visitors are included among water users aside from the resident households. Of course we mention inns especially catering to tourists make use of this precious pails or showers of water for bathing purposes as exchange of service for the money they pay.

That is, with the influx of tourism made very much pronounced in the years 2000 to now, water is a demanding need for tourist use. A very big need indeed alongside household use and rice fields’ irrigation.  

Hotels and inns and home stays have mushroomed and home stays too have opened up faster than before in the 70s to 80s when there was only one or two. It’s like gold rush where miners and their families go flocking in a certain place to dig for themselves the income of their lives.

Lines of plastic pipes too have flourished with these laid out along pathways leading to homes. Springs remain 

the same with rice fields increasingly abandoned and others turned into grazing fields for carabaos and goats. What was once before green and buoyant rice fields have turned brown and transformed into another feature.

Water from Danonoy springs where the Church of St Mary the Virgin has sourced its water then supplied some Poblacion households and some more ten other households from my home in the 60s. My mom stopped our Mission water connection some five years ago with no water reaching us anymore so have to hunt for source of water and connected with a neighborhood sharing a spring and my uncle installing a pumped up water in case spring water comes nada.  Other ten households down to Daoangan from our house cancelled their connections too years before us.

This Mission water then has common tap stand at Tangeb where people from Dagdag lined up their pails and cans for that much previous water in the 60s to the 70s on to the 80s until there is no more tapstand  to see with dwindling source and church’s business establishments demanding water use including St Joseph Rest House.

It was then an agreement in the ‘50s between the church and the lot owner where the spring is located  that the Danonoy source shall be used by the church in the  daytime and the ricefields below at nighttime, Barangay Poblacion Kapitan Dennis Lopez said as narrated by elders to him. That agreement remained unrealized till now with a demanding populace need for water and church establishments including the church, hospital and business units. 

Mission water added a water source from KentaAgen which has since then watered ricefields and gardens at sitio Lasig down Mangitong ricefields and nearby gardens. This water now goes to church establishments and some resident users.

Now here comes the P5 million public fund  specially meant for waterworks which had long been a joking and muttering scenario especially among those from Patay who line up their pails everyday to fetch water from the Tanap source. Enjoyed by a few, the 5 million peso waterworks  include supplying  two major inns  at the mumbling discomfort of many.

The 5 million peso water fund in early 1990s is an offshoot of insurgency issues in the late ‘80s which sacrificed  lives of three children either caught in the crossfire or killed by playful guns of the military. Following the demilitarization of Sagada due the killing of the three children, Sagada was included by government as one among 7 Special Development Zones (SDZ) or peace zone and each given P5 million development fund. 

Sagada chose water works  its development project. And in the stretch of time, the fund was partly utilized using electrified pumping of water but stopped due to too much money  paid for electric fees. The remaining amount was then used to source water from a spring and the rest is history with few household-members of what is called Patay Dagdag Demang Water cooperative requiring some  P2,400 registration for one to access water from the unpopular P5 million waters.

Now is the much awaited 36 million peso Boasaw water with disgruntled voices saying “awaaan nan boasaw, kakam-anoy”  (no water from Boasaw, seemingly hopeless) even if pipes have been laid out and tanks have been constructed. What will you expect with only an excess of irrigation water that the major beneficiary Tanulong Tribe Irrigators Association Water Services can give to the domestic waters for Sagada Poblacion use from a 6 inch diameter pipe connected from the main water dam. Kiss the P36 million water goodbye with  18 million from the Cordillera Highland Agricultural  Resource Management Project (CHARMP) and tell Senator Teofisto Guingona and his  P18 million priority development assistance fund (PDAF)  his PDAF went to irrigation water and not to water needy Poblacion users. For that is what Mayor Eduardo Latawan had as agreement with the people from Tanulong to let the P36 million waterworks project go. Tulagan is tulagan unless there is another amendment to the tulagan.

What does excess water mean? When the Boasaw water came forth February last year and reached eastern barangays this disappeared by July when the rainy season came.  Just wondering what excess waters are we talking about with many water-needy households in Poblacion and eastern barangays. Let us hope and believe the waters will come when the rainy season shall generate enough water to call it an excess to reach Sagada Poblacion and be reminded too that Boasaw water was meant to primarily irrigate the ricefields of Tanulong. That is clear and Mayor Latawan knows this.   

Where tourism has peaked to a 50,000 this year, is this figure meant to be a joyous celebration? Your answer is as good as mine as the tourist-heavy Lenten season comes next week.

And as of press time, all inns and hotels and homestays in Sagada are booked for the Holy Week. Would be good if incoming  unreserved tourists who wish to visit Sagada this Lenten season visit neighboring towns of Bauko, Bontoc, Sabangan, Barlig, Tadian and Barlig with their  eco attractions worth visiting.

Welcome to the year of the wooden sheep, a year of togetherness, of intimacy, family and close friendships which strengthen relations and inspires community building as collective consciousness comes to the fore. All acts of kindness, cooperation, healing and creativity are encouraged. Let this year inspire the community of Sagada foremost and others who care for a sustained responsible tourism come together and make Sagada clean, green, and equitably sharing God’s resources and gifts. As Sagada’s motto goes, “ipeyas nan gawis” (share the good).