Water firm reaffirms support for Kaliwa Dam

MANILA, Philippines — West zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. maintained that the controversial P18.7-billion China-funded Kaliwa Dam is a viable long-term solution to the current supply shortage amid continued calls to stop the project.

The Pangilinan-led water utility said it supports the government’s move to push for the completion of Kaliwa Dam amid the persistent supply crunch that affects residents of Metro Manila.

“The government has claimed responsibility for the development of raw water sources, but we have been working with them to expedite the process because we understand the urgency of meeting the supply needs of our customers,” Maynilad said in a statement.

“As a water distributor, we can only distribute the water volume that we receive from existing raw water sources,” it added.

Maynilad’s current supply shortage is primarily due to lack of rainfall over Angat Dam, which is still the only primary raw water source for Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Maynilad said it has been doing its part in implementing the necessary water infrastructure enhancements to meet the supply requirements of an ever-growing population.

Maynilad is currently maximizing the limited supply so it can mitigate the impact of the current reduced allocation from Angat Dam.

As an alternative source to Angat Dam, Maynilad added 300 million liters per day (MLD) to its water production capacity following the construction of its treatment facilities sourcing raw water from Laguna Lake.

“We intend to further boost this by another 150 MLD supply. We continue to aggressively implement our non-revenue water reduction program, reactivate deep wells as needed and deploy mobile treatment plants to source additional raw water from dams in Cavite,” it said.

President Duterte has said he will not hesitate to use extraordinary powers to proceed with the construction of Kaliwa Dam.

However, indigenous tribes of the Agta-Dumagat-Remontado in Quezon and Rizal emphasized that proceeding with Kaliwa will destroy their lives and livelihoods.

“We have a right to our ancestral domains. Instead of protecting our rights, the President and the government are the first to violate them,” said Henry Borreo of the indigenous peoples’ organization Pigtaanan ni Dumaget Remontado di General Nakar Quezon.

The tribes also fear that Kaliwa dam will worsen the climate crisis in the Philippines.

“We can already feel the effects of climate change. Seasons have been interchanging. If they construct the dam, they will kill thousands of trees in Sierra Madre, and this will affect not only us Dumagat and Remontado but millions and millions of Filipinos,” AGTA captain Meleng Rutuqeio said.

Duterte noted that violations on environment and indigenous rights are not enough reason to stop the project, stressing that his primary concern is the welfare of the people affected by water shortage.

“There are many alternatives that can alleviate water shortage in Metro Manila. Instead of borrowing billions from China, why doesn’t the government turn its attention to existing dams like the Wawa dam and Umiray dam,” Borreo said.

“The Kaliwa Dam is not for the poor like us. Its purpose is to fatten the pockets of businessmen,” Rutuqeio added.

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System recently secured its environmental compliance certificate (ECC), a requirement needed by any project in the country that poses potential environmental risk or impact.

The ECC granted to MWSS covers the construction and operation of a gravity dam along Kaliwa River located in the towns of Teresa and Tanay in Rizal province and General Nakar and Infanta in Quezon.

The dam will be 60 meters tall with a riverbed elevation of 100 meters. Its reservoir surface area will cover some 291 hectares at full supply level volume of 57 million cubic meters.

Kaliwa Dam is meant to be an additional raw water source that will augment the supply from Angat Dam, which supplies about 96 percent of Metro Manila’s water requirement.

With the ECC approval, the MWSS is awaiting just one more permit which should come from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Once the NCIP permit is secured, China Energy Engineering Corp. will submit the engineering design for approval of the MWSS Board.

Nationalization of public utilities pushed

To avert the looming water and power crises, labor groups yesterday pressed the government to re-nationalize public utilities amid what they called a failure of a privatized system in improving the delivery of services for more than two decades.

“The cost is among the highest in the region and in the world, yet about 10 million Filipinos are still without access to electricity, while nearly seven million out of 105 million Filipinos rely on unimproved, unsafe and unsustainable water sources and more than 24 million lack access to improved sanitation,” Wilson Fortaleza, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) spokesman, said.

He said the World Bank advised the Philippines to embrace privatization and liberalization so that these crises, including chronic poverty, will end.