Will residents of Los Baños and Bay, Laguna finally escape their long-standing “nightmare” with their water supply?
If officials of the Laguna Water District (LWD) were to be asked, residents of these two towns, which are under the Laguna Water Aquatech Resources Corporation (LARC), can now be assured that problems such as hours-long water interruptions will soon be a thing of the past.
Or so what they told members of the media during the recent “Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas” forum held at Calamba City, Laguna last November 26, during which LWD general manager Jesus Miguel Bunyi highlighted the progress achieved since LWD entered into a new joint venture agreement (JVA) with Manila Water Philippine Ventures (MWPV) last April.
Under the partnership, MWPV oversees operations, while LWD focuses on monitoring and ensuring compliance with the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) 2017.
Previously, the LWD’s joint-venture partner was Equipacific Holdings Corporation, which took over the operations of LARC in 2016.
Lack of water
To recall, however, as several stories covered by OpinYon Laguna noted, residents in various parts of Los Baños and Bay have long complained over the lack of water service provided by LARC.
In a presentation Bunyi showed during the “Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas” forum, more than 10,000 households in Los Baños and Bay – accounting for 25 percent of LARC’s total customers – suffered from low water pressure due to insufficient water supply and inadequate pipe network.
In the town of Bay, on the other hand, the LGU has had to step in and initiate water rationing services in areas affected by frequent service interruptions in LARC’s service area since 2023.
These issues have forced the LGU to not issue a business permit and mayor's permit last April, in an apparent move to force LARC to shape up or else.
Improvements
Moving forward, the LWD official was able to brief the media on the “improvements” conducted by LARC since MPWV took over its operations.
The construction of two major deep-well projects in Barangays Tuntungin Putho and Bayog, which now serve up to 4,448 households, have eased to an extent the problem of low water pressure in these barangays.
From 2,900 water service connections that experience up to 20 hours of water service interruption, only 1,375 connections experience such problems as of November 12.
Meanwhile, the completion of the P10-million Umali Coagulation Treatment Station in Barangay Batong Malake had also solved the issue of arsenic contamination in Los Baños' water supply.
Future projects
Aside from greatly improving the water supply in Los Baños, LWD officials said LARC is now also preparing to tackle the issue of lack of water supply in nearby Bay.
To recall, Mayor Jose Padrid filed a complaint with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) last May 30, expressing the town’s "deep concerns and dissatisfaction" with LARC's services.
During the forum, Bunyi bared plans to construct two new pumping stations that will serve residents of Bay – one inside the LARC offices in Barangay Maahas, Los Baños, and one inside a subdivision in Barangay Dila in Bay.
"Stand-alone lang po kasi ang Jubilee pumping station natin sa Bay, so kapag nag-breakdown po iyon, buong bayan po ng Bay ang mawawalan ng suplay ng tubig," he explained.
LWD is targeting the following milestones: 100 percent service area coverage with 24/7 water supply by 2025; compliance with an average daily minimum water pressure of 10 psi across all service areas by 2027; and full adherence to PNSDW 2017 standards by 2028.
“We are establishing pump stations in various areas and integrating treatment facilities, like the Umali Coagulation Treatment Station, into these systems,” Bunyi explained. “We’ve allocated P110 million for critical projects aimed at increasing water pressure to above 10 psi (pounds per square inch) across various connections.”
What went wrong?
One question that was bound to crop up in all this talk about “improvements” in LARC’s water system is: Why did Equipacific fail in its mandate?
According to LWD officials, it was all a matter of “contractual differences” that stemmed from the implementation of higher standards for water quality, particularly the PNSDW.
“Ayaw po kasing kunin [ng Equipacific] yung ilang mga obligasyon po nila, since lagi po nilang sinasabi na wala raw po iyon sa kanilang kontrata with the Laguna Water District,” Bunyi explained in a separate interview with reporters after the forum.
Bunyi added that this seeming “hands-off” approach by Equipacific caused serious delays in some major projects being implemented for residents of Los Baños and Bay.
"So nung pagdating naman po ng MWPV, siniguro na po natin na lahat po ng aspeto na kailangan nilang i-develop ay isinama na po natin sa [joint-venture] agreement," he said.
Learning from mistakes
As a result of the mistakes made during Equipacific’s tenure as a joint-venture partner with LARC, Bunyi noted that the terms of the JVA with MPWV is now in the process of being revised to give LWD more "teeth" to ensure that their partners will follow their obligations not only to the water district but also to their customers.
"As a contract monitoring unit, medyo mababaw po kasi ang ating kontratang napirmahan, wala po siyang power within the contact, so we're relegated sa pagpuna sa kanilang deficiencies pero wala kaming authority to impose them to abide by their obligations,” he said.
Bunyi added that the revisions on the JVA will be finished by the end of 2024.
"Meron na po kaming agreement with them na aayusin po natin yung joint-venture agreement with them, particularly on the provisions for land compliance and penalties, to ensure that they will comply sa lahat ng ating napag-usapan,” he explained.
(With additional reports by Catherine Go and Philippine News Agency)
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