ILOILO City – Amid the water shortage being experienced in this southern city, the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) believes there is a need for more water investors to ensure enough water supply.
The SP committee on energy and public utilities said it will not hesitate to endorse water investors.
On Monday, April 3, the committee chaired by Councilor Romel Duron called for a meeting with the city’s major water distributor, Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW), and bulk water supplier, Metro Iloilo Bulk Water, to hear their explanation on the low water supply.
The main reason cited by MPIW was limited water sources.
MPIW is currently serving around 40,000 households under their franchise area which covers the city and seven nearby municipalities of Iloilo province.
For Iloilo City alone, MPIW serves 29 percent of the city population and supplies around 40 million to 50 million liter-per-day (MLD) of its 80 million MLD production.
MPIW, a joint venture of Metro Pacific Water (MPW) and Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD), started operating the water distribution system in July 2019.
Since then, they have invested around P350 million to improve the distribution system especially the old pipelines.
This year, they are investing P1.2 billion more to further improve their services.
Snother water distributor in the city is the South Balibago Waterworks which has a franchise area covering 18 barangays in Jaro district.
But, according to the water distributor’s branch manager, Rodelyn J. Ngipen, they are also open to expanding to other parts of the city.
She added that starting last month, they have started upgrading their water treatment plant in Barangay Bongco, Pototan town in the bid to increase their current capacity of 10 MLD to 15 MLD./PN
