Cam1stq - Hiyas

The bidding process for the
project has been completed with

the issuance of the Notice of Award
to the winning bidder San Miguel
Holdings-KWater consortium on
December 7, 2015. Contract signing
was done in January 2016. Construction is targeted to start on September
2016.
AWTIP
The AWTIP, meanwhile, will improve the efficiency of water being
conveyed to the treatment plants in La
Mesa and Balara by the construction
of an additional tunnel connecting the
Ipo Dam to the Bicti catch basin and rehabilitation works to the current three
La Mesa And Ipo Dams
La Mesa Dam is a 700-hectare water reservoir built in 1929 and raised

in 1959. It is part of a 2,700 hectare watershed in Fairview, Quezon City with
an elevation of 100 meters above sea level and a spilling level of 80.15 meters.
The water coming from the reservoir goes to the Balara Treatment Plant
further south by the Manila Water, the West Area concessionaire of MWSS.
MWSS Ipo Dam is a single purpose water supply dam located at the
confluence of Angat River and Ipo River approximately 9 Km from the Angat Dam . It serves as the main impoundment of water released from Angat
Dam before it enters Metro Manila through tunnels and aqueducts.
tunnels between Ipo and Bicti. The

project is in the bidding stage as evaluation of the pre-qualification documents of the submitting bidders is
still on-going.
Barring any unforeseen inhibiting events, the three projects are
envisioned to be completed between
2018 to 2021.
Rates Rebasing
For the first time in the history

of the concession era with the concessionaires, the MWSS called for a
downward movement of the tariff
charged by the concessionaires to our
customers during the rate rebasing
exercise by MWSS in 2013. This did
not sit well with the concessionaires
resulting in their filing of an arbitration case with the international
arbitration body with the main issue
revolving around the inclusion or
non-inclusion of the concessionaires
income tax as recoverable expense.
Although a decision was already
made favouring Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (MWSI), it was a still a victory of sorts as the approved rate was
still below the original rate position
posed by MWSI in the 2013 rate rebasing exercise.
Meanwhile, the decision on
the Manila Water Company, Inc.
(MWCI) arbitration case took a positive direction as the Appeals Panel
rendered its Final Award confirming
the determination of the MWSS Regulatory Office (RO) that Corporate
Income Tax (CIT) is not recoverable
because the concessionaire is a public utility and that CIT is not one of
the expenditures that the Concession
Agreement allows to be recovered.
March 2016 Consumer Asia Magazine 49
CAM1STQ - 2016 04 18.indd 49
4/29/2016 11:01:48 AM
History and Reorganization

The MWSS has undergone several transformations since its inception in February 18, 1878. In that
year, Manila, like the rest of Las
Islas Pilipinas, was still governed
by Spain. This was also the year the
Manila Water Supply System was
constructed from funds donated
by Spanish philanthropist Francisco Carriedo y Peredo. Thus was
born the oldest water system in Asia
which, interestingly enough also
bears its present acronym of MWSS,
albeit for a different name (now for
Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System). MWSS began its task
of providing tap water to what is
now Metropolitan Manila by delivering 16 million liters of water daily
to some 300,000 people.
The water supply came from the
Marikina River, and between 1908
and 1924, MWSS increased the sup-
ply by installing additional pumping capacity at Santolan in what is

now Quezon City, in the process
building a masonry dam at Wawa,
Montalban and a 42-inch gravity
line to the then San Juan town that
filled a 224-million liter reservoir.
Total water supply capacity was
upped to 92 million liters a day.
In 1919, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) was created
through Act No. 2832, expanding
its service area to cover the capitals
14 adjoining cities and municipalities.
Between 1924 and 1944, the
MWSS built the Angat-Novaliches
system tapping the Angat River in
Bulacan as water source that became, up to now, the centrepiece
of Metro Manilas water system.
The major components of Manilas
water system now include the Ipo
Dam at the
confluence of
the Ipo and
Angat Rivers,
a 6.4 kilometer
tunnel from
Ipo to Bicti, a
36 billion liter
impounding
facility in
Novaliches, a
7.5 km. raw
water aqueduct from
Novaliches
to Balara, the
Balara Filtration Plant
and a covered
reservoir in
San Juan that
is capable of
holding 40
million liters
of water.
Even the
ravages of
World War II,
where the Philippines was forcibly

placed under Japanese occupation
for four years did not deter the
MWD to continue to deliver water
to its service areas it could reach.
The post-war years from 1945
to 1964 saw the improvement of the
Angat-Novaliches system as more
aqueducts were built, the Balara
Plants capacity increased, additional storage reservoirs were constructed in San Juan and additional water
distribution mains were put to use.
In 1955, a major overhaul was
made as the National Waterworks
and Sewerage System or the NAWASA took over the functions of the
MWD increasing the service coverage to include the other water systems nationwide. From then on, tap
water was called Nawasa juice, a
nick name that stuck until the early
1900s. In fact, even up to the present
time, MWSS is often inadvertently
called NAWASA by some people.
During the post war years, the
population in what is now metropolitan manila steadily grew from
913,000 in 1939 to 1.6 million people in 1948 to about 2.5 million in
1960 more than double the population it covered before the war
broke out. Because of the increased
demand, the Alat river and a small
diversion dam was built there to deliver water to the Novaliches reservoir.
In 1962, NWSA signed an
agreement with the National Power
Corporation (NPC) to include a water-supply component in the construction of the Angat Multi-purpose Dam which was completed in
1968. The NWSAs financial contribution ensured water rights to a
regulated discharge of 2,000 million
liters a day from the new dam.
In 1964, the then International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) now known as
the World Bank provided funding
50 Consumer Asia Magazine March 2016
CAM1STQ - 2016 04 18.indd 50
4/29/2016 11:01:50 AM

Cam1stq - Hiyas

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cam1stq - Hiyas

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cam1stq - Hiyas

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The bidding process for the

project has been completed with

La Mesa And Ipo Dams

La Mesa Dam is a 700-hectare water reservoir built in 1929 and raised

tunnels between Ipo and Bicti. The

For the first time in the history

CAM1STQ - 2016 04 18.indd 49

History and Reorganization

ply by installing additional pumping capacity at Santolan in what is

where the Philippines was forcibly

50 Consumer Asia Magazine March 2016

CAM1STQ - 2016 04 18.indd 50

You might also like