Unlike power utilities, water concessionaires in Metro Manila do not pass on the burden of their system losses to customers, Manila Water Co. official spokesman Jeric Sevilla cited. Operating as the east zone concessionaire in Metro Manila and neighboring areas, Sevilla takes pride that all Manila Water customers do not carry the burden of system losses incurred in the delivery of water supply.
Manila Water has the exclusive right to provide water and used water services in its franchise areas covering 23 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila and Rizal. Among these are the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, Marikina and parts of Quezon City and Manila and the municipality of Pateros. They also service the towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, Jalajala, Morong, Pililia, Rodriguez, Tanay, Taytay, Teresa, San Mateo and Antipolo in the province of Rizal.
Speaking as the group director for Corporate Communications Affairs of Manila Water, Sevilla cited their concession contract with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has no provision for system loss. Aside from the Manila Water, MWSS also regulates the operations of its other concessionaire, Maynilad Water Services Inc., serving the west zone concession areas in Metro Manila and suburbs.
In the case of power utilities, system losses are being charged to electricity consumers over pilferages/leakages in the supply of power they deliver. The system loss is like the take-or-pay provision in the monthly bill, whether the electricity is used or not. In his penultimate State of the Nation Address last month, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) ordered concerned government agencies to find ways to remove the system loss charged by power utilities.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Sevilla clarified the two water concessionaires assume the system losses to their cost of operations called “non-water revenues,” or NWR. In the specific situation of Manila Water, Sevilla disclosed they have been able to bring it down to as low as 13.51 percent as of June 2026.
“While its year-to-date NRW stood at 14.22 percent, we continue to maintain our NRW below 15 percent,” Sevilla cited. “The World Bank’s benchmark is 20-25 percent NRW. So we are doing a lot better.” And they intend to further lower this, he vowed.
Sevilla explained the reduction in NRW is a combination of both technical and engineering “interventions” of Manila Water, from mainline pipes and meter replacements to address physical losses. “Aggressive leak repair activities were also undertaken,” he said. For added measure, he credited the introduction of the “Tubig Para sa Barangay” program of Manila Water to address illegal pipe connections which were prevalent in low income and informal settlement areas.
According to Ditti Galang, Manila Water Corporate Communications Department head, the NRW of Manila Water used to be 63 percent when they first acquired the concession from MWSS back in 1997. “So it’s very important to keep the NWR very low so that there will be more water that can be distributed to customers,” she pointed out.
The two Manila Water executives reassured their 7.95 million customers the water supply in the east zone remains sufficient amid the ongoing El Niño phenomenon. They pointed to the completion this year of two new water source projects outside the Angat Dam, which provides 90 percent of water requirements of Metro Manila residents.
According to Sevilla, the completion of the East Bay Phase 2 project of Manila Water in the Laguna Lake will add 240 million liters per day (MLD). Also, he cited, the Kaysakat Water Treatment project will add 200 MLD more. “We feel, when these projects are finished, we can have enough supply even with the El Niño because we are no longer dependent on Angat,” he pointed out.
He feared, however, El Niño threatens water elevation in Angat Dam which recorded its “historic lowest” at 150.4 meters last July 25. Weather experts earlier projected the effects of El Niño are expected to intensify by the last quarter of the year and extend till the first half of 2027.
Sevilla could only thank the “upside” effects of the heavy rains from the three successive cyclones that visited Luzon. Coupled with the southwest monsoon or habagat, the rains brought up the water level of Angat Dam by as much as 40 meters. Ideally, Angat Dam needs to reach the target of 210-212 meters water elevation as sufficient buffer.
Sevilla estimated there are at least two million more “unserved” water customers in the east zone who remain connected to local bulk water suppliers. As a water enterprise, Sevilla reassured consumers that Manila Water has invested so much to develop new water sources under its new owner and management to add to its other major water source from the Upper Wawa Dam.
It was in February 2020 when trillionaire Enrique Razon Jr. acquired an initial 25 percent stake in Manila Water Co. But it was only in June 2021 that Razon officially took over management and control of the water company previously run by Ayala Corp. Razon’s Prime Metroline Holdings signed the P10.7-billion buyout of 820 million common shares of Manila Water, or 51 percent voting interest.
Under its MWSS concession, the two water utilities are allowed to bill “environmental charge” (EC) and foreign currency differential adjustment (FCDA). The EC accounts for 30 percent of the basic water charges. The EC answers for the mitigation of ecological damage and the protection for the environment by ensuring wastewater treatment and removal of harmful chemicals and nutrients before it gets discharged to bodies of water, Sevilla justified.
The FCDA, on the other hand, is a pass-through charge to account for peso-dollar exchange losses or gains arising from the company’s payments of specific concession loans in new water projects undertaken.
“The most expensive water is having no water,” Sevilla quipped.
No system loss charge but the EC, FCDA plus VAT or value added taxes apply to our water bills.