TACLOBAN CITY — A compounding combination of heavy rainfall and electrical power outages has triggered a severe water crisis in Samar’s provincial capital, exposing long-developing infrastructure weaknesses and prompting warnings of potential “water bankruptcy.”

The shortage became so acute that Catbalogan City Mayor Dexter Uy issued an executive order Monday morning indefinitely suspending face-to-face classes and shifting local government employees to temporary work-from-home arrangements. However, Uy rescinded the order Monday evening following widespread criticism on social media.

In his initial directive, Uy said the supply crisis left multiple districts with inadequate or interrupted service despite recent heavy rains.

The city’s water infrastructure suffers from two major vulnerabilities that hit simultaneously. Heavy rains caused high turbidity, or murkiness, in the Antiao River, making it impossible for the local treatment plant to process potable water.

Concurrently, a power outage stopped the electrically powered pumps at the Caramayon water source, the city’s other primary supply.

“Different water sources fail under different conditions,” said Ronald Orale, a water resources engineering professor at Samar State University.

“When two major vulnerabilities occur at the same time — power interruption and extremely turbid river water — the remaining sources cannot adequately meet the city’s demand,” he added.

Orale warned that the situation points to a broader risk of water bankruptcy, which occurs when a watershed or river system is degraded to the point where it can no longer function sustainably.

He cited that the Antiao River’s flow is declining while groundwater extraction is rising, leading to a concentration of untreated household wastewater due to a lack of natural flushing.

Longtime residents and economic experts say the crisis has been building for a decade, driven by a local construction boom of subdivisions, mid-rise buildings and land reclamation projects.

“Water demand is increasing far faster than our available supply,” said Raul Reyes, a former private sector representative to the Regional Development Council.

To attract large-scale investors, Reyes proposed that the Samar provincial government establish a Metro Bulkwater Supply Framework encompassing Catbalogan and six contiguous towns — Jiabong, Motiong, Paranas, Zumarraga, Daram and Tarangnan.

Orale urged the city government to reduce its dependence on the Antiao watershed, restore degraded forestlands, expand rainwater harvesting and upgrade existing treatment facilities to build long-term climate resilience.