Razon-Violago proposal favored as new water source

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System has approved the proposal of businessmen Enrique Razon Jr. and Oscar Violago for the construction of a dam in Montalban as a medium-term water source.

The approval of the project effectively sets aside Manila Water Co. Inc.’s proposed Laguna Lake project despite threats of a water shortage.

Razon is the chairman of the International Container Terminal Services Inc., while Violago heads the San Lorenzo Ruiz Water Development Corp.

“A feasibility study is already being undertaken. The board has already given its go-signal. We opted for that because it is cheaper and faster to construct,” MWSS administrator Reynaldo Velasco said in a forum yesterday.

“The  project should cost the consumer less and must be faster to build. But we are not totally abandoning East Bay, we would need that in the future,” he added.

However, Velasco did not say the investment required for the new project. The feasibility study is expected to be finished in the next six months.

Manila Water earlier warned of water interruptions should MWSS reject its project because supply from the current water sources is no longer enough to meet demand in the next three years.

With the new proposal for the Wawa Dam which has a capacity of 500 million liters per day, Manila Water would have to buy the raw water.

“We are now looking at the technical and financial standpoint of the project. Buying raw water would be subject to quality standards and we would not want to compromise the standards,” Manila Water spokesperson Jeric Sevilla said during the same forum.

“Because if the water quality is poor, it will just incur greater operational costs on the treatment,” he said.

Manila Water is already breaching the supply allocated for them amid increasing demand of about 1640 MLD. It is even utilizing supply from the La Mesa dam which is supposed to be for reserves.

MWSS continues to undertake new projects that can produce three million liters of water in the next five years including the 600 MLD Kaliwa Dam, the 500 MLD Montalban Dam and the 1,950 MLD “ABC” projects as alternative sources of water.

With the ABC projects, MWSS hopes to take advantage of the untapped and water wastage from Angat, revive the Bayabas Dam project.  It is also pushing for the Candaba multi-purpose impounding dam project.

The projects have a potential of producing 1.95 MLD, which will largely complement the existing capacity of the Angat Dam, the main source of Metro Manila’s water supply.