EDITORIAL - Water security

Off-season Typhoon Ursula unleashed death and destruction in the Visayas but also brought heavy rains in Luzon, improving the water level in Angat Dam in Bulacan, the principal source of fresh water for Metro Manila.

Even after the torrential rains, however, Angat is not yet up to optimal level. Last year a strong El Niño brought the dam water to perilously low levels, compelling water rationing as Metro Manila suffered from possibly its worst water shortage since water distribution was privatized.

With summer approaching and the unpredictability of the weather in the age of climate change, there is the possibility of a recurrence of the water shortage. This is because the National Capital Region still has no new water source. Under the privatization deal, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System is supposed to develop new water sources that concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad can tap. But this has barely moved since the 1997 privatization.

The problem of water security goes beyond the fury of President Duterte over a ruling of an international arbitration court, ordering the government to pay the two water concessionaires billions for their losses arising from their failure to raise water rates. The President has vowed to ignore the ruling and has threatened to put the water concessionaire “oligarchs” behind bars for syndicated estafa. His officials are moving to strike provisions in the water concession contracts that the government deems to be “onerous.”

The fate of the water concessionaires may become clearer by next week, as indicated by the President. In the meantime, developing a new water source deserves urgent attention.

During the holidays, the President vowed to carry out the necessary relocation of residents – mostly indigenous communities – who will be affected by the construction of Kaliwa and Wawa dams in the provinces of Quezon and Rizal, respectively. Without this “last resort,” he said, there would be no end to the water shortage in Metro Manila, and he would not brook any legal roadblocks placed in his way by the courts.

The statement, though welcomed by those who worry about water supply, also raised concerns about respect for the courts and the rights of indigenous peoples as well as the integrity of the contracts with the selected builders of the dams. These concerns cannot be shunted aside even as the government moves with deliberate speed in developing new water sources for Metro Manila.