BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Consumers of Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW) in this city have been lamenting the low water supply that has been recurring in the past years.
Likewise, the residents expressed frustration over the inconvenience caused by the water utility’s limited water service hours, which also poses health risks due to inadequate access to clean water.
These are among the issues that the Iloilo City Council wants to address during the hearing today with the MPIW officials.
Councilor Romel Duron, the city council’s energy and public utilities committee chairman, called for a meeting today with MPIW representatives to brief them about the current situation of water supply in the city, including their plans and projects for the metropolis.
In an interview, he said the city council wanted to hear directly from MPIW the real score on the water supply in the city in the wake of the El Niño phenomenon.
“We wanted to know how they will solve the water crisis in the city. Wala pa gani nag-abot ang El Niño, wala na kita tubig. How much more may El Niño pa gid?” said Duron.
After the hearing, he said they would determine whether or not the city would declare a state of calamity due to the low water supply. He said he discussed with Mayor Jerry P. Treñas the possibility of looking for deep wells to augment the need for water supply in the city.
“I hope the Metro Pacific will be able to explain the water shortage and when it will last. Our population is growing and so is the demand for water supplies,” said Duron.
The city councilor said they met with MPIW officials who admitted they could only supply about 40 percent of the city’s population. He added that other private water distributors also helped in providing water supply to the city.
The MPIW said that leaky pipes and illegal connections also contributed to the low water supply. The water utility has also resorted to constructing more deep wells.
But Duron voiced apprehension on such a solution, fearing that salt water might get into the water pipes in the long run. He lamented that MPIW was slow in resolving low water supply because they rely on their supply mainly from the Jalaur dam.
Since it is the MPIW that has a 25-year joint venture with state-owned Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), Duron said the water utility firm should supply the city residents with enough water.
Under the joint venture, Metro Pacific Water will be funding the operation, rehabilitation, and maintenance of MIWD’s water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities in Iloilo City as well as Cabatuan, Leganes, Maasin, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, and Sta. Barbara towns.
During the signing of the agreement in 2029, MPIW even announced that it started the P12.3-billion water distribution project for Iloilo City and seven neighboring towns.
At that time, the city’s average monthly consumption per connection was 26.80 cubic meters of water and the average per capita per day consumption was 26.80 cubic meters.
If MPIW cannot provide enough water supply to the city residents, Duron said the city government may invite other investors to supply water to the metropolis.
“It is the main job of MIWD in partnership with Metro Pacific. We will give them a chance to explain. After that, we will see what we can do. The city council will help find solutions,” said Duron.
The Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) also met with officials from MPW, the South Balibago Waterworks (SBW), and the City Environment and Natural Resources Office and discussed the current water supply in the city amid the drought trend caused by El Niño.
The city will continue to conduct surveys on households dependent on shallow wells in the seven districts to establish the effects of drought in the projected affected population and sectors.
The average water sources of residents in the city are groundwater wells, with MPIW water supply as the second source and bulk water suppliers as the least.
The CDRRMC said it will also continue monitoring and implementing drought mitigation measures such as water conservation and management in every household.
If the result of the continuing survey or external factors affecting the water supply warrants the declaration of the state of calamity, the CDRRMC said they will convene and make the recommendation to the city council./PN
