A committee of the Muntinlupa City Council is seeking to amend an existing ordinance to include Maynilad Water Services in the regular testing of the quality of water it supplies to thousands of customers in the city.
The Committee on Environment, chaired by Councilor Marissa Rongavilla, held a public hearing on Feb. 8 and investigated Maynilad’s prolonged water service interruption (WSI) in Muntinlupa.
In addition to the WSI, Muntinlupa residents have also complained about the brownish water that comes out of their faucets, making it unusable for drinking or cooking.
In March 2005, Muntinlupa Ordinance No. 05-037 was passed and signed “establishing the monitoring, evaluating and regulating the operations of all water refilling stations (WRS), water sellers (WS), bulk water delivery tankers (BWDT) and other establishments, corporations or associations providing drinking water for public consumption, whether for free or for a fee within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Muntinlupa and prescribing penalties for violations thereof.”
Under the ordinance, these establishments are required to submit to the City Health Office “for inspection, monitoring and on-site water specimen extraction to see to it that they religiously comply to the mandate of this ordinance.”
Councilor Raul Corro, majority floor leader, said, “Under the ordinance, penalties shall be imposed upon any water refilling station whose water does not pass the quality standards for potable drinking water that is safe for the public to drink.”
At present, he said, only the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) “can impose penalties against Maynilad for violations of its contractual obligations under the concession agreement.”
“What the committee on environment recommended is to give the local government unit the power to also impose penalties based on the poor quality of the water supplied by Maynilad,” said Corro.
While the MWSS-RO has the power to impose penalties on Maynilad regarding the water service interruption, the Muntinlupa City government, “in the exercise of its police power to protect the health of its constituents, can impose penalties for the poor quality of water supplied by Maynilad,” he added.
“Many customers have complained about the ‘brownish water’ coming out of their faucets which is not even useful for washing of clothes and dishes, much less for drinking by human beings. My reading of the said ordinances is that Maynilad is already included and there is no need to amend them,” said Corro.
Maynilad previously said the turbidity of raw water coming from the Laguna Lake and algal bloom hampered the operations of its two Putatan Water Treatment Plants in Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa.
The MWSS-RO will issue its findings and recommendations on the water service interruption in Maynilad's service areas including Muntinlupa.