TABUK CITY, Kalinga – A native of this province who now manages a water district has urged the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to form a water district to improve the delivery of domestic water in the province specially in populated areas along the Chico River here and in neighboring Pinukpuk town.
Tolentino Acquioben who used to teach at the Kalinga Christian Learning Center, now Saint Tonis College, before transferring to Polillo Island, Quezon, oriented the SP on the legal basis, category, role and procedure for formation a water district during the latter’s session on March 7.
He said that a water district is a government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) whose primary task is to operate “a water system or waterworks to provide potable water for human consumption.
“It is a very risky activity because once there is a failure to observe a certain parameter of safety measure, there is that high degree of possibility that it brings disaster to the lives of thousands of people within a community. This is the reason why a water district is strictly regulated by the Local Water Utilities to ensure that safety standards provided and required by the Department of Health are met, particularly the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water,” he said.
Acquioben told the legislative body that there is now a technology that could process surface water including river water into potable water even as he explained that the national government now encourages the tapping of surface water and on one hand, discourages the exploitation of ground water.
He said that for this city and the low lying area of Pinukpuk town along the Chico River, the water district, if it materializes, could tap the Chico River.
Acquioben had informed the ZigZag Weekly that the Polillo Water District utilizes water treatment technology because its water comes from two rivers.
Last year, Acquioben had introduced an innovation in clarifying turbid water through the density separation process, one of the three technologies used in making surface water fit for drinking and other domestic uses.
Regarding sources of funds, Acquioben told the SP that as a GOCC, a water district is eligible for government financial assistance for its expansion program and acquisition of facilities for the improvement of its services and likewise for loans with very low interests from financing institutions such as the Development Bank of the Philippines.
He also pointed out that under Section 45 of PD 198, water districts are exempted from all forms of taxes to make them economically viable.
Acquioben who was born in Cawagayan, Pinukpuk observed that in many places in the province including some areas in this city, water services are still under Levels 1 and 2 in the former, water is from pumps and in the second, the water source reaches the community but not yet the individual houses of the residents.
He said that water districts provide tap water for homes or Level 3 water service.
To the query of Board Member Shirlynne Dasayon-Alunday if sanggunians have the authority to dissolve water districts when they deem that these are not serving their purposes, Acquioben answered that under the law, the power to dissolve a water district belongs to its Board of Directors.
He explained that while the water districts are created by LGUs, they are independent and that a memorandum circular of the Department of Interior and Local Governments prohibits LGUs to interfere in their affairs.
The proposal of Acquioben was referred to the committees on health and sanitation and on infrastructure for study.**Estanislao Albano, Jr.
