MAYOR BENG Climaco rejected a proposed water rate increase by the Zamboanga City Water District, saying, it has to first improve utility services and ensure clean supply of potable water to residents, among other woes locals have raised against the ZCWD – a Government Owned and Controlled Corporation.
ZCWD executives wanted to raise water rates to improve its services. But residents have long complained of inefficient services and yearly water rationing, and wasted water from broken or leaking pipes in different barangay that largely contributed to the non-revenue water or losses to the ZCWD.
“As mayor of Zamboanga City, I cannot allow the water rates increase at this moment, considering the city is experiencing water rationing,” Climaco said.
She said the local government is willing to help ZCWD, “but at this very moment, since we do not have water and there is scarcity of it, it is not proper to increase the rates of water.”
“One of the causes of the ZCWD’s financial burden is its system’s loss or the non-revenue water being not fully maximized. So much water is wasted and this is compounded by climate change resulting in water rationing. To be efficient and sufficient, the ZCWD should and must always be at the helm of providing water,” she said.
Just this week, the local government held a water summit aimed at finding solutions to the water shortage without increasing the rates. Local Water Utilities Administration Administrator Jeci Lapus and ZCWD executives, including representatives from Prime Water, Manila Water and other stake holders attended the summit.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier awarded over P57 million for the conduct of a feasibility study of the Zamboanga impounding dam project on top of a P16 million grant from the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig Para sa Lahat (Salintubig) program on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The NEDA fund will be used for aerial surveys, firming up of dam locations, identification of borehole locations and subsurface geotechnical investigations which were already done to explore the viability of the project that will help ensure water security in the coming decades.
While the Salintubig program is for water system projects in eight barangays with ZCWD as the servicing entity together with the City Planning and the City Engineer’s Office.
With the perennial shortage of water supply in Zamboanga, the local government and the ZCWD are now in talks with municipal officials of Sibuco in the neighboring province of Zamboanga del Norte for possible water interconnection, according to Elmeir Apolinario, head of the Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Apolinario said Barangay Malayal in Sibuco has a very good source of water supply that can be tapped and interconnected into Zamboanga’s water system. A group of city officials has already visited the area and met with Sibuco municipal officials to discuss the possibility of water interconnection and how it can benefit both areas.
The idea, he said, is patterned after Singapore which for years has relied on Malaysia for its water needs. Singapore has been importing water from Johor, under two bilateral agreements. The first agreement was officially signed on October 1961 and expired in August 2011. The second agreement was signed on September 1962 and will expire in 2061.
Apolinario said aside from water interconnection, the Zamboanga City government and the ZCWD are also building on the possibility of developing the 70-hectare Bog Lake in Upper Calarian. He said water samples have already been taken for laboratory testing.
The local government is also pursuing the completion of the Lapakan Water System project amounting to P3 million and the Cahumban Water System project worth P76 million and awarded to the ZCWD. Plans for the construction of small impounding dams are already being finalized, according to Apolinario. (Zamboanga Post)
ZCWD executives wanted to raise water rates to improve its services. But residents have long complained of inefficient services and yearly water rationing, and wasted water from broken or leaking pipes in different barangay that largely contributed to the non-revenue water or losses to the ZCWD.
“As mayor of Zamboanga City, I cannot allow the water rates increase at this moment, considering the city is experiencing water rationing,” Climaco said.
She said the local government is willing to help ZCWD, “but at this very moment, since we do not have water and there is scarcity of it, it is not proper to increase the rates of water.”
“One of the causes of the ZCWD’s financial burden is its system’s loss or the non-revenue water being not fully maximized. So much water is wasted and this is compounded by climate change resulting in water rationing. To be efficient and sufficient, the ZCWD should and must always be at the helm of providing water,” she said.
Just this week, the local government held a water summit aimed at finding solutions to the water shortage without increasing the rates. Local Water Utilities Administration Administrator Jeci Lapus and ZCWD executives, including representatives from Prime Water, Manila Water and other stake holders attended the summit.
Mayor Beng Climaco.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier awarded over P57 million for the conduct of a feasibility study of the Zamboanga impounding dam project on top of a P16 million grant from the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig Para sa Lahat (Salintubig) program on the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The NEDA fund will be used for aerial surveys, firming up of dam locations, identification of borehole locations and subsurface geotechnical investigations which were already done to explore the viability of the project that will help ensure water security in the coming decades.
While the Salintubig program is for water system projects in eight barangays with ZCWD as the servicing entity together with the City Planning and the City Engineer’s Office.
With the perennial shortage of water supply in Zamboanga, the local government and the ZCWD are now in talks with municipal officials of Sibuco in the neighboring province of Zamboanga del Norte for possible water interconnection, according to Elmeir Apolinario, head of the Zamboanga City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Apolinario said Barangay Malayal in Sibuco has a very good source of water supply that can be tapped and interconnected into Zamboanga’s water system. A group of city officials has already visited the area and met with Sibuco municipal officials to discuss the possibility of water interconnection and how it can benefit both areas.
The idea, he said, is patterned after Singapore which for years has relied on Malaysia for its water needs. Singapore has been importing water from Johor, under two bilateral agreements. The first agreement was officially signed on October 1961 and expired in August 2011. The second agreement was signed on September 1962 and will expire in 2061.
Apolinario said aside from water interconnection, the Zamboanga City government and the ZCWD are also building on the possibility of developing the 70-hectare Bog Lake in Upper Calarian. He said water samples have already been taken for laboratory testing.
The local government is also pursuing the completion of the Lapakan Water System project amounting to P3 million and the Cahumban Water System project worth P76 million and awarded to the ZCWD. Plans for the construction of small impounding dams are already being finalized, according to Apolinario. (Zamboanga Post)
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