• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Mayor Greg Gasataya brokered an emergency agreement on Monday, to prevent a potential water shortage that threatened to disrupt services for thousands of residents.
The deal was struck between the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA)-PrimeWater and its bulk water supplier, Bacolod Bulk Water Incorporated (BBWI).
The crisis was prompted by a warning from BBWI that it would shut down its Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant due to unpaid invoices from May to June 2025.
“Moving forward, there will be steps undertaken to ensure these things won’t happen again,” Gasataya said.
In addition, BBWI provides 40 percent of BACIWA-PrimeWater’s total capacity.
The shutdown would have affected the eight barangays relying on the Mansilingan reservoir.
The new agreement commits BACIWA-PrimeWater to settling its debts and establishes new protocols to ensure timely payments in the future, preventing a recurrence of the dispute.*
