LWUA needs help to fix water crisis

The massive flood control corruption scandal is appalling not only because it impaired government efforts to keep Filipinos safe during heavy downpours caused by frequent typhoons that visit the country every year. It is reprehensible because it also wasted taxpayer money that otherwise could have funded other public services.

One of these is the provision of potable water in the provinces, or those areas covered by providers under the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). The crisis in this particular public service has deteriorated to a point that President Marcos had to fume about it during his State of the Nation Address last July, citing a LWUA situation report and complaints reaching his office about poor water services affecting more than 6 million Filipinos.

Last week, government regulators promised to issue within the month a memorandum circular prohibiting water districts and their joint-venture partners from charging or disconnecting customers if their services do not meet the required standards. LWUA administrator Jose Moises Salonga disclosed that his agency and the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) “are working on a joint memorandum circular [stating that] if the service level required of a water district, including its partner, is not met for more than a month, consumers don’t have to pay and their services cannot be disconnected.”

Real culprit

Commendable as it is, this measure addresses the consequence, not the cause, of the problem. While blame is now being put on the private partners of water districts, the real culprit has been the chronic lack of funding for LWUA. Salonga has noted that many water districts entered joint venture agreements (JVA) with private firms because his agency lacked the budgetary support to help expand and improve water services outside of Metro Manila.

LWUA is mandated to promote, develop, and finance local water utilities in provincial cities and municipalities by acting as a specialized government lender. It sets the standards for water quality and operations and provides technical and financial assistance to local water districts. Local water districts, on the other hand, are governed by Presidential Decree No. 198, or the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973, which allows cities and municipalities to form local water districts to meet the needs of communities. Once formed, the law states that a local water district is under the supervision of LWUA, not the local officials.

Given LWUA’s meager funds from the national budget, many of these water districts were forced to enter into JVAs with private companies. Sadly, a recent Senate survey of these JVAs with one particular private partner showed the depressing state of these collaborations.

Intermittent supply

During the hearing last week, public services panel chair Sen. Raffy Tulfo disclosed that they sent survey forms to all water districts operating under PrimeWater’s 75 JVAs. Of the 70 that responded, 61 said they were not satisfied with their partner’s performance, while 52 have started or are preparing to preterminate their JVAs.

Tulfo commented that the responses showed that communities nationwide share the same distressing experience: intermittent supply, brown or unsafe water, delays in capital expenditure projects promised in the JVAs, and unresolved operational violations.

The government can do more than just waiving the charges when water services are poor. It can exert pressure on the ill-performing private partners to agree to a JVA termination, particularly with districts capable of taking over the water operations. Regulators can intervene to prevent further service degradation by inviting more capable companies, those with proven track records.

For the longer term, the sector needs urgent reforms. LWUA’s Salonga has expressed support for the proposed creation of the Department of Water Resources to centralize oversight, harmonize standards, and modernize the country’s water governance model.

Deeper systemic issues

As it is, the LWUA official emphasized that the government needs to fix deeper systemic issues, particularly the country’s outdated and fragmented water regulatory framework with unclear jurisdictional lines between agencies. “Metro Manila has its own regulator, while LWUA oversees the rest. Then there’s the NWRB [National Water Resources Board], and separate rules for public and private utilities. It’s confusing and ineffective,” Salonga pointed out.

If it’s not too late, lawmakers should also find ways to set aside a much bigger funding in the 2026 budget that LWUA can use to help find partners for the most affected water districts and recapitalize those districts with the capability to provide adequate services without any JVA.

The government needs to find ways to cancel the underperforming JVAs and make the private partners accountable as Mr. Marcos has promised. The government must exhaust all efforts until, as Tulfo noted, “consumers receive the service they were promised and the water they deserve.”