Rhea Stephanie Baltazar, Graciel Mae Casin, Jason Roy Tecson, Arthur Piedra, Mark Kiem Gervacio
Water scarcity has become a growing concern in many developing communities, including Dapitan City, Philippines, where increasing household demand has exceeded the capacity of existing water sources. This study assessed the accessibility of water services provided by the Dapitan City Water District (DapCWD) and developed an improved intermittent water distribution schedule using EPANET hydraulic simulation software. Data were obtained from DapCWD records and a household survey involving 370 randomly selected respondents from 17 barangays using Slovin's Formula. Hydraulic analyses were performed through manual computations and EPANET simulations to evaluate water demand and flow distribution under different scheduling scenarios. Findings revealed that consumers experienced irregular water supply schedules and expressed dissatisfaction with the existing distribution system. Two scheduling strategies, namely Phase A and Phase B, were developed and simulated. Results showed that both schedules maintained total water demand below the available source capacity of approximately 43.5 L/s after accounting for non-revenue water, thereby improving distribution efficiency and service coverage. The study demonstrates that intermittent scheduling supported by hydraulic modeling can enhance water accessibility without requiring immediate development of new water sources.