MAY 16, 2013

NR # 3105

Belmonte pushes for efficient and rational regulation of water utilities

Universal access to safe, adequate, affordable and sustainable water supply and sanitation services for all Filipinos is a national objective that should be pursued vigorously by government, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. today stressed. The main objective is to ensure and enhance the right of all Filipinos to safe and clean drinking water as well as to sanitation. These are essentials and very basic to enjoying life to its fullest, he said. The Speaker is author of the proposed Act rationalizing the economic regulation of water utilities, creating the Water Regulatory Commission (WRC) as contained in HB 4282, together with Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II as co-author. We have started the groundwork in the current Congress. We are hopeful that the 16th Congress would be able to pass it within the first regular session, Belmonte said. The Water Regulatory Commission will be an independent, quasi-judicial regulatory body, which shall have Central and Provincial Regulatory Units. In effect, the pertinent regulatory divisions or units of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), the National Resources Board (NWRB) created under PD 424, as amended by EO 124-A, and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) created under PD 198, as amended, shall be transferred to the Commission. The WRC shall be vested with the authority to issue licenses and review the existing holders of Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the NWRB and Conformance issued by the LWUA. The proposed measure also seeks to achieve, among others, the following objectives: 1) Accelerate the improvement and efficient provision of level II water supply systems and sanitation services for the entire country; 2) Encourage private sector participation in the continued growth and development of water supply and septage management and sewerage facilities and services; 3) Create a business and regulatory environment conducive to public and private domestic and foreign investment in the water sector; and 4) Provides incentives and encourage investments in the provision of affordable access to water supply and sanitation services in unserved and under-served areas of the country. Level 1 (point source) means a protected well or a developed spring with an outlet but without a distribution system, generally adaptable for rural areas where the houses are

thinly scattered. A Level 1 facility normally serves an average of 15 households. Level II (communal faucet system or standposts) means a system composed of a source, a reservoir, a piped distribution network, and communal faucets. Usually, one faucet serves 4 to 6 households. Generally suitable for rural and urban fringe areas where houses are clustered densely to justify a simple piped system. Level III (waterworks system or undivided house connections) is a system with a source, a reservoir, a piped distribution network and household taps. It is generally suited for densely populated urban areas. Septage refers to sludge produced on individual onsite wastewater disposal systems, principally septic tanks and cesspools. The proposed statute provides that the overall authority and powers of the Commission shall cover and apply to all Service Providers, whether private or public, providing or entering to provide levels II and III water supply, including supplier to subdivisions and/or other Service Providers, sewerage, and/or septage treatment and disposal services for domestic/residential, industrial or commercial use. (30) dpt