Press Release
October 9, 2008

Loren bats for efficient water system

Senator Loren Legarda yesterday batted for the establishment of an efficient water system that will help the country cope with the growing demand for adequate, clean and potable water.

Towards this goal, Legarda said the government should strengthen the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA)to further spread the benefits of improved water systems in places in dire need of the services of efficient and professionally run water districts.

Legarda noted that only 15 percent out of the country's projected 2008 population of 90.46 million actually benefits from LWUA's technical and financial assistance.

"This means that 85 percent of the residents in the countryside have no access to sufficient supply of safe and potable water," said Legarda,

"These people are therefore exposed to the perennial threats of epidemics and water-borne diseases," she said, while citing the seeming reluctance on the part of local government units to initiate the formation of water districts in their respective areas.

Legarda is co-sponsor of Senate Bill No. 2486 which seeks to amend Presidential Decree No. 198 which created the LWUA in 1973. The bill was culled from the Committee Report No. 84.

LWUA was established to furnish technical assistance and provide a specialized lending institution with peculiar expertise in the financing of local water utilities.

LWUA has been able to establish and put into operation water districts in some 600 cities and towns out of the 1,500 that fall under its coverage and directly benefiting some 14 million Filipinos in the countryside.

This, Legarda said, the agency was able to attain many years ago despite its meager P2 billion capital stock.

The bill also seeks to increase LWUA's authorized capital and the ceiling for the exercise of its domestic and foreign borrowing authority to ensure that LWUA continues to perform its functions of promoting, developing and financing autonomous and viable water districts in the provinces.

Under the proposed law, LWUA's authorized capital would be hiked from P2 billion to P25 billion, and its domestic and foreign borrowing from P1 billion and US$500 million, to an aggregate ceiling of $900 million.

The availability of water will also be crucial in the years to come as demand for water will shoot up to sustain the rice cultivation.

News Latest News Feed