After almost a month of bickering the San Pablo City Water District (SPWCD) and the local government of San Pablo, Laguna have reached an agreement to solve the city’s pressing water-supply issues.
In a statement released Tuesday, December 9, the San Pablo City Information Office reported that the board of directors of the SPCWD had met with Mayor Najie Gapangada to discuss the various issues concerning the alleged lack of water lines to certain subdivisions in the city.
Among others, Gapangada and Michael Manansala, chairman of SPCWD's board of directors, reached an agreement to cooperate on replacing the city’s old water pipe systems; providing water supply to over 30,000 households in the city which are still not connected to the SPWCD; assisting poorer households in constructing septic tanks; and opening new water sources to accommodate the planned agro-industrial economic zone in the city.
Gapangada and Manansala also denied rumors circulating in social media that the SPWCD will be privatized.
"Taliwas sa mga kumakalat na balitang isasapribado ito, tiniyak ng LGU na kanilang tutulungan ang SPCWD sa mga proyektong magpapalakas at magpapahusay ng serbisyo ng tubig," the local government clarified.
Meanwhile, the SPCWD and the local government also announced their plans to ask the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to defer its planned water fee increase, slated to take effect on December 16.
To recall, Gapangada had raised concerns last November that 30,000 households in the city still lack access to potable water.
The local chief executive also claimed that the SPCWD’s San Roque Bulk Water Project was being operated at a loss, allegedly forcing the local government to pay up to P83 million in subsidies.
In a press conference last November 26, SPCWD officials called the San Pablo CIO’s statements regarding these issues “malicious” and “false.”
It also denied allegations that its officials allegedly snubbed the November 25 meeting called for by the local government of San Pablo City to address the issues, saying that it sent its own representatives to the meeting.
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