One of the biggest, if not the biggest, single investments ever recorded in Mindanao is the Davao City Water District bulk water project.

Estimated to cost P12.5-billion in 2015, it is a joint project of DCWD and Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc. that will ensure the delivery of 300 million liters of potable water daily to Davao City households, and commercial and industrial consumers. It is the first of its kind in the country in that delivery of water from the source to DCWD's reservoirs will be by renewable energy from mini-hydropower and gravity.

With the rapidly growing population of Davao City spawned by a healthy investment climate and stable peace and order condition, the need to increase the volume of supply of potable water not only for the present but for future generations had become exigent. The city's current population has doubled and is now close to 1.7-million from just over a decade. Growth areas away from the center of the city had sprouted and consequently, demand for potable water had likewise increased.

DCWD presently gets its water from the city's aquifers which provide one of the best and cleanest drinking water in the world.

But Ed Bangayan, Chairman of DCWD, is not at ease with the idea of sourcing water solely from underground. Over-extraction of water from the aquifers could lead to the intrusion of saline water from Davao Gulf. "It will be irreversible," he stressed, citing what happened in the case of Cebu City.

The search for an alternative source of water had long been on the drawing board of DCWD. When Chairman Bangayan assumed office, he lost no time in deciding to tap the surface water of the Tamugan and Panigan rivers. He sought the support of City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for the water district undertaking.

Situated about 70 kilometers from the city of Poblacion, the water from the twin rivers has the same quality as that coming from the aquifers. DCWD obtained water rights on the rivers and other tributaries and started a massive reforestation drive in Mt. Tipolog, the main recharge area of the rivers. The City Council of Davao also delineated the protected watersheds and defined the buffer zones from any form of development.

In 2013, the DCWD Board of Directors and management proceeded with the procurement process under a Swiss challenge supervised by the National Economic Development Authority.

A few more prerequisites were needed and the following year, the bulk water project was awarded to Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc., a consortium of Aboitiz Equity Ventures and Jose V Angeles Construction Corporation.

In 2015, a joint venture agreement between DCWD and AAII for undertaking the DCWD bulk water project for Davao City was finally signed in Marco Polo Hotel with Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte as a witness.

(To be continued)