The Municipality of Polanco is located 8 kms. from Dipolog City. It is bounded in the northwest by the city of Dipolog, in the northeast by the city of Dapitan, in the south by the municipality of Sergio Osmeña, in the east by the municipality of Piñan and in the southwest by the municipality of Katipunan. Polanco is accessible by land from all the major cities of Zamboanga Peninsula. The municipality is a 3^rd class town with agriculture as its economic base. The municipality has a total land area of 22,532.9104 hectares divided into 30 barangays. The population of Polanco in 2007 was 36,376 distributed into 7,404 households for an average household size of 4.9 persons.

On the other hand, the Polanco Water District (PWADI) was organized in 1990 thru the Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 135. A Conditional Certificate of Conformance No. 532 was then issued by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) on March 2, 1994. The construction of production well was then followed in the 3^rd quarter of 1994, pipe laying and installation of appurtenances was accomplished on February 1995. The total project cost was P 6.15M and it became operational on December 22, 1995.

Of the P6.15M project, LWUA projected in their feasibility study a total of 400 connections upon project completion and 600 connections five (5) years after with an average consumption of 21 cu.m./connection. But an actual number of houses that can be served by the P6.15M project were only 225 dwellings. During the operation of the district, the actual average consumption/connection per month was only 13 cu.m. to 15 cu.m., far below from the projected number of connections and average consumption. The District then did not meet the financial requirement needed to pay its obligations and incurred arrearages due to over projection done by LWUA on its feasibility study.

In spite of this fact, the District continued its operation and found ways and means to increase the number of connections. It expanded its services to nearby sitios and barangays. The fund for expansion came from the District’s internal revenue with the aid of LGU Polanco and Barangays Bandera, Anastacio, and Guinles in terms of materials payable thru rebates of water bills of designated government edifice. Even with this expansion, however, the number of connections generated was still far below from what was projected by LWUA.

 On December 16 & 19, 1996, a flood had drowned the District’s temporary office at Polanco Central School in six (6) feet depth of water and mud, leaving damages to its office equipment, furniture and supplies. On June 1999, the District suffered major trouble in its pumping facilities – a busted submersible electric motor costing almost P 90,000.00. And on November & December 1999, the office had been submerged again in five (5) feet depth of flood.

In 1996, the Victoria Country Homeowners Association, Inc. had requested the District to extend its services to the subdivision. The Victoria Country Homes Subdivision, developed by Firm Builders Realty Development Corporation, is situated in Barangay Obay, Polanco, ZN and is about 2-km from the Poblacion. Before the aforementioned request, the subdivision had its own water supply facilities. The developer of the subdivision was greatly willing to turn over the water system to PWADI but the homeowners opposed the proposal of the developer. After over a year of operation, they experienced sand pumping from their Well No. 2 and mud & clay pumping on Well No. 1. Due to this condition, they, then, requested the District to aid the subdivision in the conditioning of their water supply.

The Water District’s Board of Directors, likewise, requested LWUA for additional financial assistance to finance the expansion of the said subdivision but all our efforts were turned to deaf ears. According to LWUA, we could not avail any additional loan because of our arrearages. We also requested the assistance of the former Cong. Romeo G. Jalosjos in 1996 for that purpose, however, it only came out in 2003.

On December 1999, the residents of the subdivision were already urging their request for expansion of services because the condition of their water supply system became worst with turbid water coming out and not potable due to very high iron content. Aside from this, the water was already contaminated with wastewater because of leakages of some pipelines that were laid along the drainage canal.

In view of this and the desire of serving and saving the residents in the subdivision from future health hazards caused by drinking water with high iron content, the Board of Directors and management looked for ways and means so that the project can be started and above all to answer the immediate need of safe and drinkable water in the area.

The management with the authority from Board of Directors conducted canvasses on some local and outside suppliers of all the materials needed for the project. Likewise, the suppliers were informed that the project has no available funds and payment of the materials will only come from the revenue generated from the project itself. Tentatively the payments will be made eight (8) months from the delivery date. Among the suppliers invited to quote were MGL Enterprises and Machine Shop from Bacolod City and MGF Marketing, Inc. from Manila who offered lesser price. In the earlier quarter of year 2000, the District got an assistance from LWUA in terms of materials (uPVC Pipes) taken from Wao Water District, Wao Lanao del Norte in the amount of P 250,000.00 to be paid until May 2001. The procurement of additional materials was also followed to both MGL Enterprises and MGF Marketing.

On July 2000, the management decided to transfer its Office in Obay, Polanco, ZN due to the series of flash floods that had happened before. The Office was rented from Mr. Antonio Dalmacio.

But on January 3, 2001, another fortuitous event happened in the office: it was caught by a fire and totally burned all its documents, office furniture and equipment.

The accounts receivable from the water bills and installation fees of the customers were turned into ashes. All its transactions – billing and collections were back to zero “0” except those concessionaires who faithfully returned their water bills at an estimated returned rate of 1%. The District suffered a major financial problem at that time, forcing it to enter into negotiation with the suppliers to pay the debt in an installment basis and pay the interest at 3% per month. Due to the fire, the district was also compelled to go back to its temporary office in Polanco Central School.

Amidst these unfortunate occurrences, the District continued its operation.

With the expansion project at Victoria Country Homes, the District service connection increased from 500 to 1,300. The District was able to pay on time its amortization to LWUA, including its arrearages and other obligations. With this, LWUA extended its financial support to the District in terms of a regular loan in the amount of P5.866M for the construction of two (2) additional productions well.

The water supply system serving at present is now composed of three (3) sources – Production Wells and Pumping Stations, one (1) 150 cu.m. Elevated Steel Reservoir and 24-kilometers of Transmission/Distribution Pipelines. Due to these efforts and sacrifices, the PWADI is categorized as Average from Small Water District.

Proudly, PWADI was recognized by the Philippine Association of Water Districts, Inc. (PAWD) as “Top Water District Performer Awardee” (Average Category) for having attained a high level of performance in its operation and management for the year 2006. It was given on February 7, 2008 at the Pryce Plaza, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines on the occasion of the 29^th PAWD National Convention.

 On December 2009, the District had received another financial assistance from LWUA thru the Non-LWUA Initiated Fund (Presidential Social Fund) in the amount of P15.727M for the expansion of pipelines to Dipolog – Polanco highway boundary and Guinles – Lingasad and construction of 100 cu.m Elevated Concrete Reservoir. The said assistance is composed of 50% grant and 50% loan in which this loan portion is non-interest-bearing loan (interest free) and the principal shall be paid for forty (40) years in monthly equal payments.

Due to improvement of the water supply system, the District had increased its service areas to twelve (12) barangays to wit: Bandera, Pian, Poblacion South and North, Anastacio, Obay, Guinles, San Antonio, Lingasad, Villahermosa, Isis and part of Brgy. Gulayon in Dipolog City. The District had also supplied water in bulk sale to Dipolog City Water District effective July 15, 2010 that helps a lot in its financial needs to sustain the operation.

With the frequent flash floods, the management, thru the Board of Directors, decided to construct a temporary office in Craser, Poblacion South, Polanco, ZN. On January 9, 2012, a ground-breaking rite was made for the construction of P1.3M Temporary Office and was blessed on May 18, 2012 which was, then, occupied 3 days later.

Given its fruitful experiences and all the values it has earned on its journey through years of tough roads, the Polanco Water District strongly pursues its mission in providing safe and potable water to the public, as well as the expansion of its services areas. And as of December 31, 2021, the District is already serving a total of 4, 744 active concessionaires. Through hard work and sheer determination, and in God’s guidance, nothing is impossible!