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Maynilad Water Services Inc.’s rewards program on
illegal water activities from August to December last year has
netted the company millions of pesos in under collection.
About 121 cases of bypass
connections, double tapping and meter tampering by commercial and
industrial establishments yielding an assessed under collection of
around P22 million were uncovered through the water utility’s Run
After Illegal Connections (RAIC) program.
The RAIC is an incentive program,
which ran from August to December last year, and offered rewards of
P15,000 to P500,000 to anybody who could pinpoint illegal activities
perpetrated by large consumers.
Most of the illegal water
activities uncovered in Maynilad’s West zone concession were found
in Manila with 44 cases; South Caloocan with 19 cases; and
Novaliches, Quezon City, with 15 cases.
Valerio Lopez, Maynilad
Anti-Illegal Task Force head, said that illegal water activities
remain one of the main causes of poor water quality and reduced
water pressure.
Commercial and industrial illegal
connections account for 12 percent of Maynilad’s commercial
losses. This translates to about 180 million liters a day in lost
water revenues.
Among the big names found to have
tampered with Maynilad’s connections include Mindanao Food Corp.
in Novaliches, Quezon City. Following a tip received on August 17,
2006, the food manufacturer was discovered to be maintaining a
40-millimeter pipeline bypass connection that does not pass through
a registered meter. The company settled the case by paying Maynilad
P768,313.20 for its unregistered consumption.
Besides the Mindanao Food Corp.,
a branch of a popular fast-food chain in Quirino, Manila was charged
for water tampering.
A townhouse developer and its
contractor were also charged for maintaining an illegal tap, aside
from a registered connection, for their construction site in Paco,
Manila, in February. This was the second time the developer was
caught.
“Besides the 121 confirmed
cases around the West zone, 760 more are now being investigated,”
Lopez said.
Apart from its campaign against
large pilferers, the water utility reported that it in a span of
three years, 38,190 households in 88 depressed communities in Quezon
City have been given individual water connections through
Maynilad’s socialized water delivery service Bayan Tubig.
As of March, around 102,000
households in blighted areas all over the West zone have benefited
from the project.
 --Euan
Paulo C. Añonuevo
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