TAKING WATER FOR GRANTED

The Philippine Star
05/29/09

Despite the huge investments that have been made in recent years by the government using taxpayers' money and loans from multilateral creditors, and taking into consideration the private sector’s efforts to improve coverage and quality of water supply, there is still not enough safe water to drink for our growing population.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century. By 2025, FAO projects that about 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.

And for Filipinos, this could translate to a life-or-death issue if the local authorities fail to come up with long-term solutions. According to the World Bank, water demand in the Philippines is increasing rapidly, but "fragmented" water management, weak enforcement of regulations, and poor planning are preventing adequate responses.

Not just availability

On closer look, our problem is not just about the availability of water for every household on a 24-hour basis. We are also confronted with the issue of quantity and quality of water, and even the price we have to pay for it.

Water that pours out of many of our faucets continues to be below quality standards and therefore is a primary cause for diseases. Many are also forced to buy purified bottled water from convenient neighborhood outlets adding more strain on the household budget.

Water tariffs are also soaring. Metro Manila residents had been promised improved service – and even standards that meet the World Health Organization's quality levels – when the government decided to tap two concessionaires to deliver the service in 1996.

The Ayala-led Manila Water Co. Inc. was awarded the east zone while the west zone was originally won by a Lopez-led consortium that put up Maynilad Water Services Inc. After incurring losses and faced with mounting debt, the Lopezes returned the concession to the government, which in 2006 had awarded the same concession to the consortium of DMCI Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Holdings Inc.

we are to believe what the concessionaires have been saying, water service has greatly improved particularly in the east zone where a 24-hour water supply coverage widened to 98 percent in 2007 from only 26 percent 10 years ago.

Much more work obviously needs to be done in the west zone to achieve the desired 24-hour supply as well as raising the quality standards after its original concessionaires, the Lopezes, were unable to deliver their commitments.

Higher rates

In the meantime, Manila Water and the new concessionaires of the west zone are pouring in huge sums of money to lay new pipes and replace old facilities; all of this has only meant capital expenditures that are putting pressure for the concessionaires to ask for higher rates.

In fact, according to advocacy group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), water rates soared in 2008 to P24 per cubic meter for Manila Water customers and P34 in the west zone, from the initial bids of P2.61 and P4.96, respectively. With these dramatic increases in water rates, The FDC considers the privatization of the Metro Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System in 1996 a complete failure.

eve that the last thing that is needed at this time is for advocacy groups to spearhead another call for government to step in and take over what private business has – and seems – to be doing well at this point.

Supply issue

To address a potential water supply problem in Metro Manila and nearby areas and to generate an additional 25 megawatts of hydro power, President Arroyo gave the green light in 2007 to revive the $1-billion Laiban Dam project. She gave a deadline of six years starting in 2008 to complete construction.

Through a $1-billion loan from the Asian Development Bank, the dam will provide 1,900 million liters per day or 22 cubic meters per second of water for Metro Manila. The project was conceptualized many years ago but was deferred in 1989 in lieu of such major water supply projects such as the Angat Water Optimization Project and the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project.

But then again, some sectors are arguing that there is no need to construct a new dam. Several groups – that apparently do not believe in the critical water supply problem that Metro Manila may soon face – are opposing the Laiban Dam project, saying that the supply problem lies not in the inadequacy of water sources but in government neglect, poor economic policies and faulty water distribution and facilities.

e groups fear that the proposed dam would displace about 3,500 families living in seven barangays in Tanay and one barangay in General Nakar.

No repeat of NBN, please

With GMA is dead set on proceeding with the Laiban project, rumors say that SMC of Dading Cojuangco appears to be the anointed lead proponent of the project. The size of the project makes it a prized catch for whoever is the chosen one.

We are all hoping that this project will not wind up drenched in scandal in the same manner as the infamous NBN project. Officials involved should not close their eyes to other alternatives just because GMA has indicated her choices.

Water is increasingly becoming a precious commodity, and a long-term plan – devoid of politics and not tainted with scandal – must be drawn up to avert any potential crisis.

Water is too precious to play around with.

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Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, SalcedoVillage, 1227 MakatiCity. Or e-mail me at reydgamboa@yahoo.com. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net.