MALACANANG
MANILA
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 198
(As amended Presidential Decree Nos, 758 and 1479)

DECLARING A NATIONAL POLICY FAVORING LOCAL OPERATION AND CONTROL OF WATER SYSTEMS; AUTHORIZING THE FORMATION OF LOCAL WATER AND PROVIDING FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION TO FACILITATE IMPROVEMENT OF LOCAL WATER UTILITIES; GRANTING SAID ADMINISTRATION SUCH POWERS AS ARE NECESSARY TO OPTIMIZE PUBLIC SERVICE FROM WATER UTILITY OPERATIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES:

Rationale

One of the prerequisites to the orderly and weLL-balanced growth of urban areas is an effective system of local utilities, the absence of which is recognized as a deterrent to economic growth, a hazard to public health and an irritant to the spirit and well being of the citizenry;

Domestic water system and sanitary sewers are two of the most basic and essential elements of local utility systems, which, with a few exceptions, do not exists in provincial areas in the Philippines;

Existing domestic water utilities are not meeting the needs of the communities they serve; water quality is unsatisfactory; pressure is inadequate and reliability of service is poor, in fact many persons receive no piped water service whatsoever;

Conditions of service continue to worsen for two apparent reasons, namely: (1) that key elements of existing system are deteriorating faster than they are being maintained or a placed, and (2) that they are not being expanded at a rate sufficient to match population growth; and

Local water utilities should be locally-controlled and managed, as well as have support on the national level in the area of technical advisory service and financing.

By Proclamation No. 1081 dated September 21, 1972, and General Order
No. 1 dated September 22, 1972, as amended, the following measures have been decreeD, ordered and made as part of the law of the land.

NEXT