Understanding Water Districts in the Philippines
Our presentation seeks to add to the urgent need to improve access to safe drinking water, particularly in the regions outside the National Capital Region. Based on the latest official census report (August 1, 2007) by the National Statistics Coordination Board, of the total population of 88,542,991, 11.6 million (13%) reside in the NCR; the balance of 77 million (87%) live in the regions outside the NCR. At present, the most important public water service provider in the regions is the water districts. These are government-owned or controlled corporations legally established by Presidential Decree 198 in 1973. Based on the Philippine Association of Water Districts Directory of Water Districts 2008-2009, of the regional population, 42 million (54%) are under the jurisdiction of WDs of which 16 million (37%) are being served by the WDs; the unserved population plus other areas not under the jurisdiction of WDs get their water needs from alternative formal and non-formal WSPs, including the Local Government Units, rural and barangay water associations and cooperatives, private suppliers inside private subdivisions, and some individual suppliers. Given that the WDs were legally authorized 39 years ago, their present service coverage is highly detrimental to the well-being of the communities under their jurisdiction.
The government prepared and published the Philippine Water Supply Sector Roadmap 2009 which identified the issues and challenges in the water supply sector, recommended activities for addressing these issues, provided the implementation schedule and monitoring of progress. Work on developing the PWSSR started in 2007 and involved a series of workshops and consultations among sector stakeholders, including government officials, WSPs, non-government organizations, and donor agency program officer.
However, the present administration has put on hold the implementation of the PWSSR and is instead focusing attention on meeting the Millennium Development Goal on water (i.e., halve by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation). At the same time, by Executive Order, the President has ordered the creation and convening of the Inter-Agency on the Water Sector which is “tasked to design and recommend to the President a water sector master plan which will effectively all the issues and concerns of the water sector.” Though not specifically mentioned in the order, it is assumed that the master plan will be using the materials produced by the PWSSR.
Regardless of what shape or form the actions to address the issues, concerns and challenges of the water sector may take, the inconvenient truth is the urgent need to act. We have done some research particularly in the WDs; we will present our findings in this workshop.
Seminar 14 Slides
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