Maynilad losing P500 M monthly to illegal water connections

Maynilad Water Services Inc. is losing at least P500 million a month to water thieves who tamper with main water pipes and set up illegal connections, a top company official said yesterday.

Maynilad president Rafael Alunan III, said water pilferage has become such a serious problem that the company is now deploying personnel to conduct daily inspections of water connections in Quezon City, portions of Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.

He said water pilferage is not only confined in urban poor areas but also in subdivisions and even big manufacturing firms that use booster pumps in their operations.

The recent outbreak of disease in Tondo had been blamed on leaky pipes, low water pressure, illegal connections and booster pumps. Aside from illegal connections, the Department of Health has also blamed the outbreak of disease in Tondo to contaminated food, filthy surroundings and poor hygiene which are beyond the company’s control.

"Maynilad does not sabotage itself, it defies logic. We are not in the business of destroying pipes, contaminating water system and harming customers," he told reporters during the weekly Balitaan sa Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City. He was reacting to criticism by certain groups that the company was solely to blame for the outbreak.

Alunan said that while there has already been a law passed against water pilferage they are having a difficult time in making headway because every time they disable an illegal connection, water thieves simply re-attach the lines.

"It has become a war of attrition," he said.

The losses to pilferage is considered part of the non-revenue water and represents at least 50 percent of the water processed and distributed to the firm’s area of operations.

The Maynilad president said that the problem of illegal connection can only be addressed if law enforcement agencies help them in the crackdown of water thieves and those using water boosters.

Alunan said sustained enforcement of the Water Crisis Act of 1995 and Presidential Decree 856 will address the problem of illegal connections and the use of booster pumps.