BF Homes Parañaque to go waterless

During this long, hot summer, some 1,200 residents of BF Homes Subdivision in Parañaque City will have to survive with only trickles of water.

Maynilad Water Services Inc. discontinued Tuesday its supply to the Philippine Waterworks and Construction Corp. (PWWC), which manages and provides the subdivision’s water supply, after the latter failed to settle arrears amounting to P3.2 million incurred over a three-month period.

Aside from the arrears, PWWC reportedly has not paid water line interconnection fees of P659,739. This amount should have been settled, according to Maynilad, before PWWC tapped into its water system in December 2000.

In an interview with The STAR, Henry Marcaida, head of PWWC’s distribution and customer services office, said that the company had been paying Maynilad "religiously" until the latter increased its fees.

Marcaida said that from the P12.52 per cubic meter PWWC had been paying Maynilad, the amount was raised to P28.03 per cubic meter.

"We can’t just raise our water rates (charged to the residents) because we are under the National Water Resource Board, which regulates the water rates," Marcaida explained.

Aside from being unable to keep up with the increase, Marcaida said PWWC is incurring more expenses because it has to make use of "boosters" to increase the water pressure after Maynilad failed to complete the interconnection project which could have augmented the water volume.

According to Marcaida, Maynilad entered into a "friendly agreement" with PWWC.

"There is no existing contract between Maynilad and PWWC right now," he said.

PWWC management had tried to negotiate the increased rates with Maynilad but, Marcaida said, the two companies never reached an agreement as Maynilad’s administration "kept on changing."

Maynilad supplies the subdivision with 1,000 cubic meters a day, Marcaida said.

"This is not enough but that’s all Maynilad can provide," he said.

Marcaida said he had met with BF Homes’ residents to discuss contingency measures. At the moment, most of them depend on deep wells for their water supply.