Does El Niño cause water shortage? No, but we and the concessionaires allowed by law to distribute water do.
Water shortages worldwide are mournfully distressing signs of our pitiful incompetence to manage ourselves within bounds, or to effectively chart a bright future for generations to come, using our indispensable natural assets.
Agriculture uses the bulk of our water supply through irrigation. Do we realize the importance of water in the produce we get from this industry? Is the cost of water inputted in the agricultural products we buy? One just has to witness how water runneth over our rice fields like there’s no tomorrow. Perhaps if we’d only value water as an agricultural necessity, then we’d learn how to conserve it. In most households, water is being wasted in the many ways we use it mindlessly. It’s just like spending more than what we earn.
Aside from our wasteful habits, water crisis is sadly compounded by corporate greed. The concessionaires’ inability to build additional water sources as they promised has precipitated the crisis to alarming levels.
The Manila Water Co. admitted and the Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System (MWSS) confirmed that what triggered the crisis was the decreasing water level of the La Mesa Dam, which is the MWC’s main source of water. MWC aggressively expanded to more areas under its concession in the absence of a new water source. MWC’s Pililla water-treatment plant, intended to source and treat raw water from the Laguna Lake, is still under construction and will be operational only by the latter part of this year.
As the sole keeper of our water needs, Angat Dam is where MWC and Maynilad get the water they distribute. In the absence of new water sources, the concessionaires are pumping water out of Angat Dam faster than it is being refilled by rain. In budget terms, water consumers of both MWC and Maynilad are not only withdrawing more from a depleted deposit account (rainwater represents the deposits that refill the dams), they’re now pillaging their savings to near fatigue.
Without new water sources, new players in water distribution would have only one source of water to distribute to their consumers. The result would be catastrophic. Fortunately, the San Miguel Bulk Water project only gets from Angat the equivalent of one teaspoon in glass full of water. Both Maynilad and MWC draw 46 cubic meters per second compared with San Miguel’s 2 cubic meters per second.
What is alarming is the creeping privatization of local water districts nationwide through the so-called joint-venture agreement (JVA), especially in the Central Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac. At the forefront of this assault is PRIME Water, owned by the Villars. Among the big-earning water districts already in the PRIME Water bag include those of the Cities of Cabanatuan, Tarlac and San Fernando; San Jose del Monte, Marilao and Malolos City in Bulacan. In these areas are malls, subdivisions and industries that consume huge volumes of water. As of the latest count, around 100 water districts have already been taken over, while another 30 or so are under so-called negotiations, including Angeles and Mabalacat. A number of water districts, such as Metro Cebu, Cagayan de Oro City and others in Bicol, and the Visayas and Mindanao, have already entered into some form of arrangements with private companies, which place them on the verge of outright takeover.
The JVA operates under Presidential Decree 198 where the Sangguniang Bayan will pass a resolution forming a water district in their municipality/city. After the passage of resolution, the local government unit will cut its ties with the water district, which will now be under the control and regulation of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). The water district now becomes a government-owned and -controlled corporations.
But this setup has been warped when the government, through the National Economic and Development Authority, implemented a resolution that allows public-private partnership in the water business. Under the PPP setup, LWUA remains as a water district regulator on a nonvoting capacity. LWUA’s teeth have been practially pulled out.
Here’s how it goes, according to my sources: “The agent of the private operator/investor will offer a retirement package for the water district officials and employees. [Thereafter,] they will be rehired by the private operator. The agent is offering a huge amount [millions of pesos depending on the consumption of the consumers] for the officials of the water districts. If the officials of the water districts refuse to enter into the joint venture, the agents will then talk to the mayor, governor or congressman. LWUA is directly under the Department of Public Works and Highways, [managed by Secretary] Mark Villar. PRIME Water is owned by the Villars, and the majority of water districts that entered into joint venture are under PRIME Water.” Go figure.
My sources say: “The offer of the investor is to induce funds for the water districts. However, in the computation of water rates, debt services and foreign currency are included. It shows that the investments are loans, and the payment will come from the collection from the consumers. It’s very clear that we’re being fried on our own lard, since LWUA has enough funds to finance for the water district
“Financial statement, operation and maintenance expenses, basis of water-rates increases must be audited by COA, because the facilities being operated by these private firms are owned by the government. But they have consistently refused to be audited by COA, arguing that they are private entities,” my sources added.
In an article published by Forbes, Brian Richter, a global leader in water science and conservation for more than 25 years and chief scientist for the Global Water Program of The Nature Conservancy (an international conservation organization), has this piece of advice:
“Before pursuing expensive new options for bolstering water supplies, it is critically important to minimize the amount of water needed in our homes, industries and on farms. When viewed as a water budget-balancing strategy, water conservation—both in cities and on farms—typically costs one-third to one-tenth of the expense of developing new water supplies, such as by importing water or desalting ocean water. No water-supply option should be pursued until we have trimmed our water expenditures to a minimum.
“In addition to cost savings, water conservation is highly preferable to water-supply projects from an environmental perspective. Water importation can disrupt existing land uses or natural landscapes, or block animal migration routes as pipelines or canals are constructed across the landscape. These projects can also include villages located along the pipeline or canal route. Generating the electricity needed to power a water importation or desalination project likely also produces undesirable carbon emissions that are driving climate changes.”
Richter points out that, to avoid a water shortage, it is crucial that everyone must “begin living within the limits of nature’s water budgets. We need to stop overspending the rain.”
When raindrops stop falling on our heads, and even every storm runs out of rain, how will we quench our thirst then?
For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com