Irrigation and Water Supply System
The development of infrastructure in the Municipality of Baras is generally associated with the growing number and concentration of population. The lower urban area has the highest concentration of population, thus the concentration of infrastructure and facilities. In contrast, the midland is sparsely populated so it becomes more expensive to provide infrastructure in that portion. Pinugay (upper and lower upland) is the most populated barangay but its population is spread over a very large area.
Incidentally, the lower urban area encompasses the best areas for agriculture with its less acidic soil and relatively flat terrain. The contiguous rice fields make it favorable for the construction of irrigation facilities.
Water Resources and Sewerage
The water resources and sanitation has been divided into four sub-sectors comprising of irrigation, water supply, flood control and sewerage.
Irrigation
Baras has a total area of 1,090 hectares of land devoted for vegetable crops. Only 19.3% of which is irrigated and used purposely for rice production. The situation worsened when NIA pumps at Brgy. Mabini and Santiago stopped operations, and likewise the Baras Farmers Irrigation Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc. (BFIMPCI) pump at Brgy. Evangelista stopped operation in 1987 affecting fifty (50) hectares of land.
The irrigation facility of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) is basically concentrated in the lower upland. It should be noted that there are also rice planted areas in the midland, upper upland and the lower upland areas.
Water Supply System
Baras mainly relies on deep wells for its water supply. In 1994, there is one (1) deep well for Level III water system supplying a daily demand of 70.00 cubic meters and another deep well for Level II. For level I on the same year, there are 31 deep wells and 48 shallow wells. Nineteen (19) of the 31 deep wells for Level I were determined safe.
The Level III water supply system in the poblacion (lower urban) is estimated to serve a total of 4321 households in 1999. In 1994 it is estimated that 210 households were served by the Level III system, and another 175 were served by local waterworks system in various subdivisions. Assuming same per capita demand in 1994, the 1999 estimated demand is 412 m3 of household water per day.
For the Level II water system, it is estimated that there are 364 household served. Around 100 of these can be found in Sitio Malalim. This is much higher than the 1994 figure of 20 households. The detailed breakdown for the 1994 figure is shown in Table 1 below:
Source: Baras Comprehensive Land Use Plan
