10-¢ water tax eyed
March 29, 2005 | 12:00am
The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) is eyeing a 10-centavo per cubic meter "water tax," which is expected to generate around P10 billion in additional income every year to fund reforestation projects in watersheds.
Ramon Alikpala, executive director of the NWRB, said the planned tax on water is also aimed at promoting efficient water service among water utilities and encourage the public to conserve water.
He noted that 60 percent of water at the east and west zone concessions of Metro Manila is "non-revenue water," being lost to leaks and illegal connections.The imposition of raw water pricing, Alikpala said, would force water utilities to repair leaks and improve its service because it will be paying for the non-revenue water.
Alikpala said the public won’t really be paying that much with the 10-centavo tax "because it would only be a few centavos for a few cubic meters of water."
He pointed out that a family of six in Metro Manila uses an average of 30 cubic meters of water a month.
Alikpala clarified the 10 centavos is not actually a tax and the NWRB, being also a regulatory body, would not allow water firms to pass on the cost to consumers.
He said in reality, nobody pays for the water itself. Consumers pay for the packaging or the extraction or purification process and other costs of processing water by firms.
"There must be a way for these firms to pay for the privilege of extracting water which they use for business," Alikpala said. "In this way, we can use the fund to protect our resources like rainforests and watersheds."
He said the move would also prompt industrial users, water districts, golf courses, commercial centers, and other firms, to become more efficient and conserve water through fixing of leaks. Alikpala said many water firms do not fix leaks in their systems since it is more expensive than the cost of water itself.
He said in the end, the cost of processing water would go down and that the poor and farming communities would have access to more water due to efficient infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said it would still have to study the proposal of the NWRB.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Palace is focusing its efforts on having various revenue-generating measures, particularly the value-added tax (VAT) bill, passed by Congress as soon as possible.
"This (water tax proposal) needs to be carefully studied," Bunye said. "Right now, our primary focus is on VAT."
Although the Angat Dam has started receiving more water from the Umiray River, the NWRB said Metro Manila might still experience a water shortage if the El Niño phenomenon extends until June this year.
Alikpala said water in the Angat Dam could hit critical level by middle of this year if there is no change in the weather condition.
Last March 17, Metropolitan Water Sewerage System (MWSS) completed declogging the waterway tunnel that connects the Umiray River to the Angat Dam. However, the volume of the water to the dam has yet to be fully restored.
"Umiray helped, but we are still feeling the effects of El Niño and we are only receiving 30 percent of the normal level. We don’t see any cutbacks and we are in fact increasing. Hopefully, it would normalize in the next few months," Alikpala said.
The NWRB official said he sees no need to implement water rationing although he admitted that there are still some areas in the metropolis that either have no or weak water supply. Private water concessionaire Maynilad has deployed 90 trucks to help these areas.
The water level at Angat Dam as of 9 p.m. yesterday was at 183.36 cubic meters.
NWRB said the critical level was 180 meters, where it may no longer be possible to supply water for the irrigation of farmlands, especially in Bulacan and Pampanga.
In the next two months, the NWRB would be able to concentrate supply in most parts of the metropolis rather than providing the water requirements for farmlands.
Alikpala said farmers require less water supply because they are currently enjoying the harvest season
From their regular consumption of 25 cubic meters per second, the demand of farmers would decrease to 12 to 15 cubic meters per second by next month.
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa) reported that this year’s dry spell is only considered as "mild" compared to the El Niño effect in 1997, the strongest felt by the country. – With Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan
Ramon Alikpala, executive director of the NWRB, said the planned tax on water is also aimed at promoting efficient water service among water utilities and encourage the public to conserve water.
He noted that 60 percent of water at the east and west zone concessions of Metro Manila is "non-revenue water," being lost to leaks and illegal connections.The imposition of raw water pricing, Alikpala said, would force water utilities to repair leaks and improve its service because it will be paying for the non-revenue water.
Alikpala said the public won’t really be paying that much with the 10-centavo tax "because it would only be a few centavos for a few cubic meters of water."
He pointed out that a family of six in Metro Manila uses an average of 30 cubic meters of water a month.
Alikpala clarified the 10 centavos is not actually a tax and the NWRB, being also a regulatory body, would not allow water firms to pass on the cost to consumers.
He said in reality, nobody pays for the water itself. Consumers pay for the packaging or the extraction or purification process and other costs of processing water by firms.
"There must be a way for these firms to pay for the privilege of extracting water which they use for business," Alikpala said. "In this way, we can use the fund to protect our resources like rainforests and watersheds."
He said the move would also prompt industrial users, water districts, golf courses, commercial centers, and other firms, to become more efficient and conserve water through fixing of leaks. Alikpala said many water firms do not fix leaks in their systems since it is more expensive than the cost of water itself.
He said in the end, the cost of processing water would go down and that the poor and farming communities would have access to more water due to efficient infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said it would still have to study the proposal of the NWRB.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Palace is focusing its efforts on having various revenue-generating measures, particularly the value-added tax (VAT) bill, passed by Congress as soon as possible.
"This (water tax proposal) needs to be carefully studied," Bunye said. "Right now, our primary focus is on VAT."
Alikpala said water in the Angat Dam could hit critical level by middle of this year if there is no change in the weather condition.
Last March 17, Metropolitan Water Sewerage System (MWSS) completed declogging the waterway tunnel that connects the Umiray River to the Angat Dam. However, the volume of the water to the dam has yet to be fully restored.
"Umiray helped, but we are still feeling the effects of El Niño and we are only receiving 30 percent of the normal level. We don’t see any cutbacks and we are in fact increasing. Hopefully, it would normalize in the next few months," Alikpala said.
The NWRB official said he sees no need to implement water rationing although he admitted that there are still some areas in the metropolis that either have no or weak water supply. Private water concessionaire Maynilad has deployed 90 trucks to help these areas.
The water level at Angat Dam as of 9 p.m. yesterday was at 183.36 cubic meters.
NWRB said the critical level was 180 meters, where it may no longer be possible to supply water for the irrigation of farmlands, especially in Bulacan and Pampanga.
In the next two months, the NWRB would be able to concentrate supply in most parts of the metropolis rather than providing the water requirements for farmlands.
Alikpala said farmers require less water supply because they are currently enjoying the harvest season
From their regular consumption of 25 cubic meters per second, the demand of farmers would decrease to 12 to 15 cubic meters per second by next month.
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa) reported that this year’s dry spell is only considered as "mild" compared to the El Niño effect in 1997, the strongest felt by the country. – With Paolo Romero, Evelyn Macairan
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