Flammable water spews out of Davao City subdivision faucets

Residents of a Davao City subdivision were both alarmed and astonished to find water that was flammable flowing out of their faucets.

According to a Friday report on GMA News TV program "Balita Pilipinas Ngayon", a resident discovered the flammable-water phenomenon by accident when he placed a candle near a sink.

While experts had yet to investigate the potentially hazardous water supply, the Department of Energy (DOE) speculated that it was possible that natural gas or methane was also being spewed from the community's faucets.

"'Yung mga organic materials na na-trap galing sa bundok and then wala siyang malabasan," DOE-Mindanao research specialist Virgilio Arzadon explained.

"So organic materials during drilling, posibleng na-hit nila ang pocket of gas na nandoon kaya lumabas ang organic materials at nahalo sa tubig."

Although some locals welcomed the development as a way to to save on LPG, others were were worried with the quality of the water supply. Some of the latter said that the tap water would sometimes smell dirty or odorous.

GMA News has yet to receive a comment from the local water service. — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News