Manila Water proposes representative for water-related issues at the Cabinet

Manila Water is proposing that there be a representative who will champion water-related issues in the President's Cabinet to further address problems involving the resource.

Manila Water COO for New Business Operations Virgilio Rivera Jr. made the suggestion on Monday during the House technical working group meeting on the measure seeking to create the Department of Water Resources and Water Resources Commission.

According to Rivera, it has always been an issue in the water industry that it does not have representation in the Cabinet.

"If the country and government are really serious in tackling this water crisis, then you need to have Cabinet representation through the Department of Water," he said.

"Year 2000 pa sabi nila, we are serious about water. But there's no representation in the Cabinet that will champion water. It doesn't work kapag champion lang, it has to be aligned," he added.

The budget allocation for water services in the yearly appropriations is also a reflection of the government's concern for water-related issues, he said.

"I have been monitoring the government appropriations act. Try to extract water-related items there. Probably it's less than one percent," Rivera said.

"So the point is, is this country serious about water? Then it's reflected in the General Appropriations Act. That's how you view whether a country is serious about water," he added.

In March this year, several parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province were hit by a water crisis, which Manila Water attributed to La Mesa Reserve's low water levels.

Manila Water said it had plans programmed to reduce its dependence on the La Mesa Water Reserve, such as taking water from the Laguna Lake through the Cardona Water Treatment Plant Project and reactivating decommissioned deep wells and developing new deep well sources, but they "were met with technical issues and implementation delays."

It was only in the last week of May that Manila Water's service began to normalize after the Cardona Water Treatment Plant was activated and after Maynilad agreed to supply water to the east zone concessionaire through a cross-border agreement.

The measure proposing the creation of the Department of Water Resources aims to rationalize water resource management to provide the public with clean, safe and accessible water. — BM, GMA News