BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – With the city government delivering water to residents affected by the El Niño phenomenon-induced drought, Mayor Jerry Treñas lamented that the city government is becoming a “water boy”.
He called out Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), the major water distributor here, for inefficiency and expressed his frustration.
“This should not be expected from a company like Metro Pacific. I am utterly disappointed with the present situation,” Treñas said during the press briefing.
“As a consumer, I am disappointed with our water distributor. I was expecting that with Metro Pacific, a big company, tani madasig-dasig man,” the mayor said.
Since he became a public official in 2001, Treñas noted the City Hall is still enduring a water supply shortage.
He mentioned “problematic” areas such as the City Proper, coastal areas, and Lapuz district.
“So when are we going to expect more water from Metro Pacific? They are the distributor so it is incumbent upon them to look for ways and means to add more water to be distributed to the whole city,” said Treñas.
The mayor said he will be meeting with officials of MPIW, Metro Iloilo Water District, and South Balibago Water Resources, the other water distributor in Iloilo City but specifically serving Jaro district.
In a statement, MPIW apologized to Treñas and all the city’s stakeholders and customers within its service areas for the continued water service interruptions, pointing out that El Niño intensified starting last month.
“We take responsibility for our shortcomings. But what is more important for us is to continue working and finding new solutions so that we can fast-track supply recovery,” said Angelo David Berba, MPIW chief operating officer.
MPIW said it experienced severe water supply shortage with the raw water volume of its bulk water suppliers reaching critically low levels. Levels have fallen to a degree not seen since Typhoon Frank in 2008.
“The El Niño posed multiple challenges, yet we worked tirelessly to overcome the constraints and sustain the delivery of our services by deploying water tankers to critically-affected areas, water network management to equitably distribute to all our service areas, adding water supply sources, and continuing to work with local government units to provide water supply to our communities” added Berba.
Berba also said they have started to roll out projects for this year that will significantly lower water losses which can increase supply levels.
“In the short term, we are looking at a recovery of water losses of 10MLD with Pipe Rehabilitations, the use of technology such as the Sahara Mobile Leak Detection, and Tyfo-Fibre Wrap Technology; Medium Term is the development of a 60.5 Desalination Plant which started its pre-development works starting January 2024 and our long-term plan is to secure other sustainable water sources in Visayas,” said Berba./PN
