MWSS gets $.8-M grant from ADB

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended a grant of $800,000 (approximately P40.8 million for the identification and development of additional potable water sources for Metro Manila. The recipient is the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

Being a technical assistance in nature, the grant will require minimal counterpart funding from the MWSS.

ADB director for Philippine affairs Dr. Gunther Hecker said he would not be surprised if part of the grant would go to upgrading of facilities.

The ADB hopes that based on the technical assistance, more areas of development and sourcing could be identified. The sewerage system is another area that needs improvement. In an earlier report, the ADB said that Asia has the lowest per capita availability of freshwater resources among the world’s continents. Per capita water availability dropped to 55 percent in Southeast Asia, 70 percent in South and Central Asia, and 60 percent in North Asia.

"Twenty years ago, people were talking about food security. Today, they talk of water security," Arjun Thapan, co-author of the water policy report and manager of ADB’s Water Supply, Urban Development and Housing Division West.

The bank is strongly encouraging an integrated water resource management approach to the potential potable water shortage. "We should also follow nature in basing such as approach on a river basin context."

Half of Asia’s estimated population of 4.2 billion are expected to live in urban centers within the next century. Thus, increasing urbanization, industrialization and wastage would put more pressure on water availability.

Demand for domestic and industrial water is growing rapidly. Water availability per capita is projected to fall further by 2025.