No water crisis in Malolos, water manager said

MALOLOS CITY—There is no water crisis in this city, the general manager of the Malolos City Water District said

However, he admitted that water pressure in their pipelines has been low, and local concessionaires continue to complain.

Both MCWD official and its concessionaire also expressed concerned over water rates in the proposed Bulacan Bulk Water Project which is seen to address increasing depletion of groundwater in the province.

“There is no water crisis in Malolos,” said Nicasio Reyes, the general manager of the MCWD said in vernacular.

In a telephone interview, he insisted that current water supply in the city is enough for it’s over 230,000 population.

However, he said that some concessionaires have to understand that they cannot enjoy the usual water pressure.

“There are areas that have low water pressure, especially those at the tail end of our pipeline,” he said.

But local concessionaires like Eduardo Camua of Barangay Pablo here said that even those living by the main road where the major pipelines are located are suffering for low water supply due to low water pressure.

The same was echoed by concessionaires from Barangays Sumapang Matanda and Bulihan here.

Reyes also admitted that low water pressure was due to increasing ground water depletion aggravated by summer heat and lack of rainfall in the weeks before.

To address the situation, he said that they are now installing pressure pipe in their water pumping stations in selected areas of the city to increase their water pumping capacity.

Meanwhile, Reyes andlocal concessionaires express hope that proposed Bulk Water project in the province will soon be implemented.

But they expressed concerned over possible water rates.

Reyes said that when the Bulaccan Bulk Water Project was introduced to them in 2007, they were informed that water districts in the province are likely to be charged with P16 per cubic meter of water.

“That’s too high because we were only charging P12.50 per cubic meter, and if the project was implemented then, our water rates could have climbed to P30 per cubic meter including production cost,” he said.

Earlier, Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado said they are still negotiating with a number of proponents for the Bulacan Bulk water project.

He said that their main contention ion wagter rate saying they want water rate in the province to be lower compared to Metro Manila.

This is due to the fact that the province was granted water right from the Angat Dam in the early 90s for hosting that dam since the early 60s.