Surging Ahead with Water System Improvements
Tagbilaran, a city in the Philippines’ central region, is considered a gateway to popular tourist destinations with great potential to become an engine of inclusive economic growth. However, the city has struggled to develop an effective water delivery infrastructure, resulting in a limited potable water supply for its 100,000 residents and forcing the city to undergo water rationing.
“Some families could only access water at two in the morning,” says USAID/Philippines Urban Planning Specialist Marian Cruz Navata. “They had to wake up early just to get water.”
Meanwhile, the local government did not coordinate its efforts to read water meters or issue and collect bills. “We manually conducted our billing,” explained Tagbilaran City Waterworks System (TCWS) Head Engineer Peter Busano. “The meter readers visited each home and water meter individually and computed the bills themselves. This kind of system is prone to errors.”
Indeed, customers frequently complained about miscalculated bills and refused to pay, resulting in mounting unpaid water bills. In 2016, the city was operating at a loss because people owed around 15 million pesos ($281,400) in unpaid water bills.
Addressing Water Access Concerns
To help address these issues, USAID partnered with the city, offering capacity building and training for TCWS staff as part of USAID’s Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity (SURGE) project. Since 2015, the five-year, $47 million project has been working with eight secondary cities throughout the Philippines to improve urban planning, increase local revenue generation, simplify administrative procedures, upgrade water and sanitation systems, and expand economic connectivity and access between urban and rural areas. The project ultimately aims to enhance conditions for inclusive and resilient economic growth.
In Tagbilaran, USAID is helping TCWS expand its current water service hours, improving its ability to generate revenue and enhancing its capacity to manage accounts. In 2016, USAID trained TCWS staff on water billing procedures and on “ring-fencing,” a practice that helps companies to separate costs and revenues.
Equipped with new knowledge and skills, TCWS staff studied and segregated the company’s expenses and income. This exercise revealed that TCWS was not experiencing operational loss. In fact, the company had enough funds to support its daily operations and even make improvements to its waterworks system.
Catalyzing Partnerships
As part of the project, USAID facilitated a twinning partnership between TCWS and Maynilad, a Philippine private water and waste services company that operates in 17 cities and municipalities, to develop and implement a joint work plan to improve water services. “Maynilad Water Academy is an expert in water systems, and we are the beneficiaries of that expertise,” says Busano.
In April 2017, TCWS and Maynilad prepared a yearlong work plan toward water services improvement. Over the course of the year, Maynilad provided expertise, technology, remote coaching, and mentoring, while TCWS took responsibility for financing water system upgrades. Maynilad, together with a water and sanitation specialist from USAID’s SURGE project, trained five TCWS staff members on water services improvement, including Busano, the master plumber, the civil engineer, the electrical engineer, and the accountant.
“It’s a very good partnership,” says USAID’s Navata. “Maynilad Water Academy has been very generous and accommodating of all of TCWS’ requests to improve water service delivery. The trust is there. Engaging with the private sector is important to USAID in achieving sustainable solutions to global challenges such as access to water.”
Improving billing and district metering became the highest priority under the twinning partnership. Under the guidance of Maynilad and USAID, TCWS developed a customer database to automate the management and monitoring of customer accounts as well as issuance of bills. TCWS launched the database in February 2018. Even before it became fully operational, the system demonstrated results. Bill collections in 2017 increased by 34 percent over 2016 levels, which meant more funding for operations. “I haven’t received any more complaints about miscalculation on the billing,” says Busano. “This is a big help to the city government.”
Further Improvements in Water Service Delivery
Maynilad experts and USAID also helped shift the perceptions of TCWS staff on the importance of reducing leaks in the water system. Called nonrevenue water, or simply water loss, these leaks can drain funding for cities if left unchecked. “Before the training, we didn’t realize how much water supply and income we were losing due to leaks,” says Busano.
With what TCWS learned from ring-fencing, Tagbilaran now uses the revenue to upgrade the waterworks system and minimize nonrevenue water.
To further improve its services, TCWS acquired five additional water pumping units, allowing a more continuous supply of water to the 15 barangays (districts) in the city. The water service provider gets its water supply from the groundwater and conducts pump tests to ensure a sustainable water source. “Almost all of the barangays now have access to water 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” says Busano. And thanks to the training that USAID facilitated with Maynilad, TCWS staff members have the ability to properly manage all these pumping units.
Looking Ahead
Tagbilaran is now looking to construct a new wastewater, or septage treatment, plant. The Philippines Clean Water Act of 2004 mandates that all urban areas in the country have functioning septage management systems in place by 2020. USAID helped the Tagbilaran government begin the planning process for this new system, which will be the first of its kind in the island province. The government team is currently working on an environmental impact assessment, feasibility study, and project proposal to access funds for the septage treatment plant. Once completed, the system will serve the wastewater needs of Tagbilaran and surrounding towns, comprising a population of approximately half a million people.
In the meantime, USAID, through the SURGE project continues to build both capacity and goodwill. “Mayor Yap of Tagbilaran is very thankful that USAID is here,” says Navata. So is Busano. “I would like to thank the people of the United States of America for having this program,” he says. “It’s a great help and contributes a lot to the people.”
By Christine Chumbler
Contributors to this story include Marian Cruz Navata, Urban Planning Specialist, USAID Philippines; Linda Paredes, City Project Coordinator, USAID SURGE Project; Maynilad Water Academy; and Tagbilaran City Government. Photography by Indee Sinon and Berlin Baldores.
This article appears in Global Waters, Vol. 9, Issue 4; for past issues of the magazine, visit Global Waters’ homepage on USAID.gov.
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