MWSS housing project at La Mesa reservation opposed

Environmentalists and major non-government organizations are up in arms against a plan to establish a housing project in the vicinity of the La Mesa Dam compound, a move they said would endanger the water supply to Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Save the La Mesa, a coalition of organizations and concerned individuals, asked the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to reconsider the plan to build houses within the watershed.

"There was a study in 2004 that a housing subdivision near the La Mesa will contaminate our water supply. That there is no mitigating measures that can address the contamination," Gina Lopez of the Coalition to Save La Mesa Dam Watershed Reservoir said.

She added that "if the La Mesa Reservoir becomes contaminated, even the farmers in Bulacan will suffer. If that happens, water in Metro Manila has to be rationed out."

Lopez said they are not against housing projects, "but the government need to find some place else. Not there." She pointed out no agency can monitor hundreds of families who would live in the vicinity of the dam and dispose of pesticide or products that contain lead, which would then seep into the water supply.

The proposed housing project is part of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between MWSS and two of their labor unions, Kaisahan at Kapatiran ng mga Manggagawa at Kawani sa NWSA (KKMK-NWSA) and Balara Employees and Laborers Association (BELA), back in 1968.

Under the agreement, MWSS allotted 58 hectares of its property near the La Mesa watershed to be sold at P5.50 per square meter to the unions, with total value of P3.19 million. The property was raffled off and awarded to 1,411 union members. Eventually, a new site located within the perimeter of La Mesa Watershed was designated.

The deal, overtaken by events, was only consummated with the turnover of the absolute deed of sale to the claimants in March 2006.

Citing an independent study conducted by the University of the Philippines National Hydraulic Research Center (UP-NHRC) on the effects of the proposed MWSS housing project on the La Mesa watershed and reservoir, the environmentalists expressed concern over the possibility of water contamination.

UP-NHRC director Leonardo Liongson, in a letter to MWSS Administrator Orlando Hondrade, recommended that it would be in the best interest of MWSS and the general public for the La Mesa to remain a protected watershed.

Hondrade, in his letter addressed to then environment secretary Michael Defensor, echoed Liongson’s concerns and recommendations and said the proposed housing area located within the La Mesa watershed posed a serious threat to the reservoir’s water quantity and quality.

This development prompted the Save the La Mesa Dam coalition to call on the support of the DENR to reconsider the issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate to MWSS housing project claimants that would allow them to start building on the site.

The coalition also appealed to these claimants to consider an already-identified alternative housing area in Antipolo in lieu of La Mesa.

"Should the MWSS and the claimants pursue the housing project, past and present preservation efforts to protect the quality and quantity of clean drinking water for Filipinos residing in Metro Manila will be all for naught," Lopez said.

Meanwhile, two lawmakers aired opposite stands on the issue. While Sen. Jamby Madrigal opposed the housing project due to the threat of contamination of Metro Manila’s water supply, House Deputy Majority Leader Edcel Lagman said the project is "environmentally safe, viable and can co-exist with the La Mesa Dam" because engineering measures would be put in place to prevent pollution of the dam and despoliation of the area.

Madrigal wants the Senate committee on youth, women and family relations, which she chairs, to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the privatization of a portion of the La Mesa reservation area for the housing project.

She justified the need to protect children and women, the "vulnerable members of society," from water contamination. "It is the right of every Filipino, particularly those in Metro Manila to have unimpeded access to clean, safe drinking water, the primary sources of which is in the La Mesa reservoir and watershed."

Lagman, who has been assisting the claimants of the La Mesa housing project for free, said measures to prevent the pollution of the dam’s water supply are included in the deed of absolute sale in favor of the 1,411 awardees.

These measures include the construction of a flood control and drainage system, strict solid waste management, construction of a wastewater treatment and sewerage system to be monitored by the DENR and MWSS, the use of leak-free and impermeable sewer pipes, the provision that effluents from septic tanks would not be allowed to leach into the soil, and another provision barring trees from being cut down without a prior permit from the DENR and MWSS. — With Christina Mendez