Yet another round of water service\ninterruptions, mounting unmet sanitation infrastructure obligations, and\nlooming water rate hikes highlight the failure of water privatization. It is\nunconscionable that water firms\u2019 profits continue to rise and they are even\nexpanding abroad despite their failure to meet their domestic service\nobligations. Water privatization is failing to ensure people\u2019s right to water\nand the government needs to take over this vital public service and run it\nwell. Also, the cost of delivering a very vital public service as water being\npassed on to consumers by private water firms is excessive and in violation of\nthe human right to water. Government should take charge of this public utility\nin order to ensure water accessibility and affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to 17 million water consumers in Metro\nManila and its surrounding areas again face interrupted water services from Maynilad\nWater Systems and Manila Water Company. This is reportedly due to low water levels\nin Angat Dam and Ipo Dam where the two concessionaires source water. The\nlooming interruptions follow interruptions that started in March this year which\ncaused monetary and circumstantial damages to millions of customers, who filed\na petition to hold the water firms accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customers can also expect much more\nexpensive water as Maynilad and Manila Water fully pass on the cost of sanitation\nprojects to comply with Supreme Court (SC) directives. The Metropolitan\nWaterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS) stated that if approved, the two\ncompanies\u2019 clean water infrastructure costs will be incorporated on a staggered\nbasis in water bills after the next rate rebasing in 2022. The SC recently\nimposed Php1.8 billion in penalties on the two firms for violating the Clean\nWater Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Privatization-bred burdens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These problems that water consumers\nface are due to the failed approach of water privatization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Water firms have the responsibility to\nensure a continuous and safe supply of water. Yet putting water sourcing,\ndistribution, and services delivery in the hands of private firms mainly\nconcerned about their bottom-line has resulted in underinvestment in\ninfrastructure and facilities by the concessionaires. Water firms have reaped\nhuge profits through the years despite failing to ensure uninterrupted water\nservices and sufficient sanitation projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The water firms are today claiming\ninsufficient water supply as the reason for service interruptions. Yet Advocates\nof Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM) has for instance identified\nexisting water sources and systems that can increase water supply by as much as\n5,663 million liters per day (MLD). Even assuming some depletion of Angat, the\nbigger question is why these other water sources have not been tapped or\ndeveloped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The concessionaires\u2019 non-compliance\nwith the Clean Water Act is also a case of underinvesting in vital water\nservices. Customers have been billed with increased environmental and sewerage\ncharges for the past 21 years but only 14% of the total service area has been\ncovered by the sewerage services of the water firms as of 2018. This is\nsignificantly lower than the combined 64% target that Manila Water (33%) and\nMaynilad (31%) should have at least already met by 2017, leaving 86% of the\ntotal service area to be covered for the 19 remaining years of the concession\nagreement (CA). The firms have also not established adequate sewerage systems\nvital for the clean-up of the Manila Bay, contrary to a 2008 SC directive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Privatization-driven\nprofits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet the water firms\u2019\nprofits continue to rise. Manila Water\u2019s net income rose from Php2.4 billion in\n2007 to Php6.5 billion in 2018; Maynilad\u2019s from Php1.3 billion to Php7.4\nbillion in the same period. These profits are\nensured under the CA signed between the government and the private water firms\nwhen Metro Manila water and sanitation services were privatized in 1997. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Water customers are their main source\nof profits. There is rate rebasing every five years to compute the water rates\nconsumers should be charged based on the firms\u2019 past and future expenses and\ntheir guaranteed profit. Manila Water rates have\nincreased by 879% and Maynilad\u2019s by 574% between the start of the concession in\n1997 to the first quarter of 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As it is, potable water and water\nservices already take up an increasing share of household budgets, especially\nof poorer and low-income families. In 2015, Philippine Statistics Authority\n(PSA) figures show that families in the National Capital Region spent about\nPhp668 monthly on potable water and water services. Water for the People\nNetwork (WPN) has meanwhile found that informal settlers, who have the least\nability to pay, frequently shell out close to Php1,000 or more for water which\nis so vital to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In their quest for profits even at the\nexpense of providing services, Manila Water and Maynilad have been expanding\ntheir water businesses outside their concession areas since 2009. Manila Water\nPhilippine Ventures and Metro Pacific Investments, Corp. are spending billions\nof pesos to set up water concessions outside Metro Manila and even abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public service over profits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The public sector has to have the key and\ncentral role in providing water and sanitation services. These cannot be made\ndependent on the narrow profit-seeking motives of private corporations. As the\nMetro Manila water experience has shown, private water firms will invest to the\nextent that it serves their profit-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The poor service of water firms\nincluding under-investment and over-pricing in the concession areas must be\nended with government taking control of these vital water utilities. The\ngovernments in the United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere operated major water\nand sanitation services and financed these through general taxation. These\ncountries were able to expand their water services and make it affordable for\ndecades, although this reversed with the anti-people wave of privatization\nsince the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public welfare and health demand that water services be publicly-provided and operated as a public service rather than for private profit. For a start, government should rescind the CA, which has allowed the firms to reap billions in profits despite glaring underperformance. ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo from starofmysore.com<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WATER FOR THE PEOPLE NETWORK<\/p>\n The public sector has to have the key and central role in providing water and sanitation services. These cannot be made dependent on the narrow profit-seeking motives of private corporations.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":8699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-nosidebarbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,3],"tags":[347,1347,84,116,2047,167,868,2092,33],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9121,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698\/revisions\/9121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}