Malolos, Bulacan--- Despite the fact that water from its own kilometric Angat River is almost exclusively used for the domestic and industrial needs of nearby Metro Manila, the province of Bulacan, through the numerous water districts established and operating within its boundaries, is leading the country in terms of water supply coverage both in terms of area and number of people reached.

Facts and figures gathered from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), the government agency responsible for the promotion and development of provincial water supply systems,establish this province as the tops in terms of area and population covered by piped potable water supply service.

According to LWUA, out of the total 2 cities and 22 municipalities comprising the province, all but one---the relatively new upland town of Dona Remedios Trinidad---are already covered by the services of water districts. Water districts are already existing and operating here in this provincial capital city of Malolos and the equally fledgling city of San Jose del Monte and the towns of Meycauayan, Obando, Marilao, Bocaue, Sta. Maria, Balagtas, Bulacan, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Pandi, Norzagaray, Angat, Bustos, Pulilan, Baliuag, Calumpit, Hagonoy, Paombong, San Rafael, San Ildefonso and San Miguel.

In terms of population, more than half of the province's estimated six million residents now have access to safe, piped potable water supply through the efforts of these water districts.And steady financial, technical and institutional development assistance being provided by the LWUA which has been tapping various bilateral and multilateral sources for funding of water projects here and other parts of the country.

Significantly, the province also possesses the honor and distinction of having three of the country's only baker's dozen water districts that have already achieved 100 percent coverage of their service area, meaning to say water districts that have installed service lines in all barangays, sitios, streets and passageways in their declared area of responsibility. These are the water districts of Hagonoy which achieved the feat in 1998, Calumpit which attained water supply coverage of all its service barangays two years later and Bulacan which was officially recognized as also having achieved 100 percent coverage of its service area in 2002.

For the records, the others who have accomplished the feat are the water districts of Lipa City, the first to declare full area coverage in the late 80s; Dasmarinas, Cavite; Placer, Surigao del Sur; La Trinidad, Benguet; Metro Bangued, Abra; Tagudin, Ilocos Sur; Binmaley and Alcala, both in Pangasinan; Dingras, Ilocos Norte and Cabagan, Isabela.

The relative success of the water supply development program in this province can be attributed to the support of the local government authorities who actually initiated the establishment of the water districts to take over the management and operation of the generally moribund municipal waterworks systems in the various places here. Special mention had to be made for Roberto Pagdanganan and Josie de la Cruz, immediate past and incumbent governor of Bulacan, respectively for advocating for the province's right to also benefit from Angat River not only in terms of irrigation but also for domestic use. The provincial government's efforts have resulted in some water districts having source problems like Obando, Meycauayan and San Jose del Monte City gaining access to bulk water from Angat through the MWSS.

But much of the strides in the area of water supply provision in the province is directly credited to LWUA which since the early 70s has been extending steady financial, technical and institutional development assistance to the water districts here to meet the needs of an ever-expanding population and industry base of Bulacan.

Per LWUA records, practically every water district in Bulacan had already underwent at least the initial phase of their improvement or expansion projects with the financial and technical support of LWUA. And just recently, with the backing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Land bank of the Philippines, LWUA approved the application for financial and technical assistance of some water districts here, notably San Jose del Monte, Marilao, Baliuag and Obando, for the further development and expansion of their water supply systems.