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Friday, March 29, 2024

Water accountability

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President Rodrigo Duterte has every reason to get mad at the top officials of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the two private concessionaires in Metro Manila. He has threatened to fire regulators for failing to anticipate and do something about the water supply problem in Metro Manila, and terminate the contracts of the two concessionaires in the capital region.

Some 1.2-million households in the east zone of Metro Manila served by Manila Water Co. Inc. have suffered service interruptions for the last two weeks that the company blamed on low water levels at the La Mesa Dam as a result of the El Niño phenomenon. Customers of Maynilad Water Services Inc. in the west zone, in contrast, experienced no interruptions.

Water accountability

President Duterte, perhaps, should start dismissing the key executives of the MWSS, which has taken the responsibility of providing new water sources to augment the supply from Angat and Ipo Dam in Norzagaray in Bulacan province. The government agency did nothing to correct the situation. It knew very well that relying on a single water system was risky and bad management.

President Duterte must appoint more competent officials at the MWSS, preferably those with engineering and management backgrounds, to deal with the water deficit woes. MWSS administrator Reynaldo Velasco should be blamed for his inaction and failure to identify a new water source since taking over the chief post of the water agency.

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The MWSS chief has also shown his early bias for the China-funded Kaliwa Dam project over the proposal of a Japanese company. He readily declared that Kaliwa Dam would be cheaper than an alternative Japanese proposal, without acknowledging the social costs cited by the indigenous residents of General Nakar and Infanta towns in the province of Quezon.

Local government units, in the meantime, should implement the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Act of 1989, which requires the construction of rainwater collectors in every barangay to prevent flooding and ensure the supply of clean water during dry seasons. Rainwater harvesting is done successfully in other countries and there is no reason why the Philippines, which is visited by at least 20 typhoons every year, cannot do the same.

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