Poe calls ‘unacceptable’ Maynilad water disruptions
SEN. Grace Poe finds “unacceptable” an announced extended waterless supply starting July 12, and has prodded the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to adopt urgent remedial action to mitigate the impact of the service interruption affecting almost 600,000 Maynilad Water Service customers.
“MWSS should not take this matter sitting down as these recurring service cuts will affect over half a million consumers,” said Poe, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services.
She lamented that the Maynilad water service customers have already noticed that the period of water supply shutdowns were “stretching for hours and getting longer,” and she complained this is “unacceptable.”
For its part, Maynilad said its customers may experience up to 9 hours of nightly water service interruptions starting July 12, blaming it on “the decreasing water level of Angat Dam.”
In turn, the senator suggested that the MWSS determine whether water utilities like Maynilad are “adhering to their obligations based on their franchise.”
“MWSS should be proactive,” Poe stressed. “It cannot be just the bearer of bad news to consumers of Maynilad’s water cuts.”
Moreover, the senator said that Maynilad should have acted urgently in investing and building its supply capacities to “avoid being caught flatfooted by increasing demand for potable water as what is happening now.”
The utility should not simply rely “on the volume of rainfall. When there’s a water shortage, they always blame Angat Dam,” she noted.
Poe also wants MWSS and the water concessionaire to tell the public of the long-term and short-term solutions to the water shortage.
The senator reminded them that the authority granted to concessionaires to distribute water to consumers carries a serious obligation to deliver efficient service.
In addition, she stressed anew the need to establish a Department of Water Resources to give better focus on water use, management and sources.
As author of the enabling bill, she sought to give the new department the task of primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, monitoring and administration of water concerns for the executive branch.
Poe noted that the regulatory framework for water in the country has many overlaps, and economic regulations are provided under different setups, resulting in instability and fragmentation.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/07/10/poe-calls-unacceptable-maynilad-water-disruptions/