San Jose Del Monte City Water District

Public Service First and Foremost

When the Sangguniang Bayan passed the resolution approving the creation of a local water district for the then Municipality of San Jose Del Monte in 1980, the move was met with apprehension by skeptics. The demand for safe and potable water was high. The newly-created water district had no funds, no definite water sources, not enough manpower with the technical expertise to deliver safe and potable water through individual connections. All that the water district had was the commitment of the existing staff of the Water District (and there were only five of them), the confidence of the local government that it will be able to bring water to every home in the municipality, and the initial 200 service connections that were turned over by the LGU.

It was a difficult start. Water was turbid during the rainy season. During summer, water was clear but not potable. Customers were constantly complaining, even holding street rallies, against low quality water. Many prospective connectors preferred their individual "poso" (manual water pumps) against the water distribution technology of the Water District which people claimed "was producing dirty water, anyway. Along with the problem was the lack of financial resources to fund any improvement project. The Water District can only implement palliative measures to avoid a massive uproar from its concessionaires.

During those times when resources of the Water District could not fully respond to the demand, it implemented Tawid-Uhaw Projects (TUPs), structures made up of two communal metered faucets supplying twenty-four hours of potable water to the beneficiary community. These projects were supported by funds from local government officials and various civic organizations in the municipality while the community provided labor during construction.

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was seen in 1995 when the Water District was able to secure approval for the implementation of the Comprehensive Water Supply Improvement Project Phase I which was bilaterally funded by the French and Philippine Governments. In 1997, a P154 million modern Water Treatment Plant was completed and inaugurated at Brgy. Minuyan, Sapang Palay. The plant, now in operation and serving mostly the Sapang Palay Resettlement Area (SPRA), is processing 20,000 cubic meters of raw water per day from the Angat River. With the operation of the Plant came people queuing for water connection.

Ten years after the completion of Water Treatment Plant 1, SJDMCWD is now the largest water district in Central and Northern Luzon and one of the largest in the entire country with its over 60,000 service connections.

However, the SJDMCWD is quick to admit that it is serving only 40% of the city's population. "There are still thousands of San Joseños that need to be served with safe and potable water," says Engr. Loreto Limcolioc, SJDMCWD General Manager. "Relocatees from nearby Metro Manila come here in droves. "

The City of San Jose Del Monte, 40 kilometers north of Manila and characterized by a topography of rolling hills and plains, is largely a resettlement area of the government. Month by month, families from nearby Metro Manila's depressed areas are transported to settle in low-cost housing subdivisions of the government. The SPRA alone has 36 barangays, more than half of the total number of barangays in the city and accounts for more than half of the 58,000 service connections of the water district.

Relieved of its major problem at SPRP from the full operation of its Water Treatment Plant No. 1, the Water District commenced the Comprehensive Water Supply System Improvement Project - Phase II in 2003. The Phase II Project consists of the construction of an additional water treatment plant, capable of processing 30,000 cubic meters of raw water per day from the Angat-Umiray Transbasin Project, and laying of more than 40 kilometers of water pipeline. Worth P547 Million, the Phase II Project is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) through the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

The treatment plant is currently in partial manual operation as the SJDMCWD awaits the final report by its foreign consultants on the testing and commissioning stage. It is expected to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2007 with the pipelines having been completely laid as early as January, 2006.

Aside from augmenting water supply for the existing service areas of the SJDMCWD, the new treatment plant, upon full activation, will expand water service coverage and provide sufficient drinking water up to the year 2010 to approximately 40,000 additional households, mostly resettled families from nearby Metro Manila. The tapping of surface water is also part of the efforts of SDJMCWD to completely veer away from the extraction of groundwater which is becoming less dependable because of salt water intrusion, Bulacan being in the list of water critical areas identified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

To realize its vision of making water available to every home in the city by the year 2020, the Water District is now eyeing the possibility of another major service improvement project, the Comprehensive Water Supply System Improvement Project Phase III. Also in the pipeline is the provision of an efficient sewerage system for the city in coordination with the city government.

"We were created to provide public service, first and foremost", said GM Limcolioc. "We will leave no stone unturned to make that service available to all."

March 2007