San Jose del Monte City Water Treatment

San Jose del Monte is a city in Bulacan with a land area of 10, 533 hectares, politically subdivided into 59 barangays. Its major industries are bakeries, poultry, piggery, feeds supply, and trading, while its major products include balut, sweets, juices, processed meat, fish products, rice, livestock, mangoes, marbles, and bat manure. The city is currently headed by Mayor Reynaldo S. San Pedro and Vice Mayor Eduardo S. Roquero, Jr. Early accounts on the founding of the town, from stories of senior citizens, yielded information that it was formerly a part of the town of Meycauayan and the first inhabitants came from there. During the American colonial rule, it became a part of Sta. Maria until 1918 when the town was created and Ciriaco Gallardo was appointed the first municipal president. Public schools where opened at the start of the American regime but due to the scarcity of the population, the highest grade organized was only up to fourth grade. During the Japanese occupation, the town became an ideal hiding place of the Filipino guerillas because of the town's hilly and wooden terrain. With the coming of recent settlers to San Jose Del Monte, its population increased tremendously. For the past few years, several residential subdivisions have been established in San Jose del Monte to accommodate people from the overpopulated Metro Manila. According to the official site of the Bulacan local government, as of 2007, San Jose del Monte already had 439, 090 settlers. Its nearness and accessibility to Metro Manila (particularly Caloocan and Quezon City) had made San Jose del Monte an ideal place for residence. The city, 40 kilometers north of Manila and characterized by a topography of hills and plains (with a mountain background, the Sierra Madre that provides a panoramic backdrop to the town), is largely a resettlement area of the government. Month by month, families from nearby Metro Manila's depressed areas are transported to settle in low-cost housing subdivisions of the government. The Sapang Palay Resettlement Area (SPRA) alone has 36 barangays, more than half of the total

number of barangays in the city and accounts for more than half of the 58,000 service connections of the water district. Water rates in the city range from Php 1,250 to Php 1,500 for installation in residential areas, with commodity charge of Php 104 for the first 10 cubic meters and an additional Php 10.95 to Php 15.70 for every excess of 10 cubic meters. In industrial establishments, installation costs Php 2,500 to Php 3,000. Meanwhile, the commodity charge is approximately Php 208 for the first 10 cubic meters and an additional Php 21.90 to Php 31.40 per cubic meter in excess of 10 cubic meters.

The SJDMC Water District The San Jose Del Monte City Water District (San Jose Water) is the main provider of safe and potable water in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. It is a semi-private company. Due to its former location in a private land near a sanitary landfill, concerns about possible water pollution and issues regarding the health and safety of the residents surfaced. But its treatment facilities were transferred and were currently located in Lot 9, Blk. 19, Rd. 1, Brgy. Minuyan. Back in 1980, when San Jose del Monte was still a municipality, the Sangguniang Bayan passed the resolution approving the creation of a local water district because the demand for safe and potable water was high. The newly-created water district had no funds, no definite water sources, not enough manpower with the technical expertise to deliver safe and potable water through individual connections. All that the water district had at that time was the commitment of the existing staff of the Water District only consisting of five persons, the confidence of the local government that it will be able to bring water to every home in the municipality, and the initial 200 service connections that were turned over by the LGU.

During the rainy season, the water reached high levels of turbidity. During summer, the water was clear but not potable. Customers complained constantly, even holding street rallies, against low quality water. Many prospective connectors preferred their individual "poso" (manual water pumps) against the water distribution technology of the Water District which people claimed "was producing dirty water, anyway. Along with the problem was the lack of financial resources to fund any improvement project. The Water District can only implement small measures to avoid a massive uproar from its concessionaires. During the time when resources of the Water District could not fully respond to the demand, it implemented Tawid-Uhaw Projects (TUPs), structures made up of two communal metered faucets supplying twenty-four hours of potable water to the beneficiary community. These projects were supported by funds from local government officials and various civic organizations in the municipality while the community provided labor during construction. In 1995, the Water District was able to secure approval for the implementation of the first phase of the Comprehensive Water Supply Improvement Project which was bilaterally funded by the French and Philippine Governments. In 1997, a P154 million modern Water Treatment Plant was completed and inaugurated at Brgy. Minuyan, Sapang Palay. The plant, serving mostly the Sapang Palay Resettlement Area (SPRA) back in 2007, processed 20,000 cubic meters of raw water per day from the Angat River. With the operation of the Plant came people queuing for water connection. Ten years after the completion of Water Treatment Plant 1, SJDMCWD became the largest water district in Central and Northern Luzon and one of the largest in the entire country with its over 60,000 service connections. In 2007 however, the SJDMCWD said that it is serving only 40% of the city's population.

After the full operation of its Water Treatment Plant No. 1, the Water District commenced the second phase of its Comprehensive Water Supply System Improvement Project in 2003. The Phase II Project consisted of the construction of an additional water treatment plant, capable of processing 30,000 cubic meters of raw water per day from the Angat-Umiray Transbasin Project, and laying of more than 40 kilometers of water pipeline. Worth P547 Million, the Phase II Project is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) through the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). The general manager of the facility, Engineer Loreto G. Limcolioc, is the only authorized person to give interviews and tours to students, visitors, researchers, and the likes (with proper documentation and authorization) inside the facility to witness the water treatment process. As of July 31, 2015 , San Jose Water has a total service connection of over 92,000 households, translating to approximately 550,000 people served, making it the fourth largest water district in the country in terms of number of service connection. It brings individually piped water service to all 59 barangays in the city 24 hours a day every day. According to our informants, San Jose Water manages the water supply in San Jose del Monte but most barangays are not directly under it. Most of the 59 barangays are under “NAWASA” or MWSS and other private companies (like in Barangay Kaypian), so these companies buy supply from San Jose Water and sell it at a higher price. Though San Jose Water regulates all the water supply throughout the city, they still do not have an absolute control on all of the city’s water regulations. San Jose Water uses surface water from Angat River and groundwater from selected sites in the city. Surface water from Angat River is processed at San Jose Water’s two water treatment plants, both of which are fitted with modern technology and equipment to treat a total of 50,000 cubic meters of water per day. In areas served by groundwater, modern chlorination equipment

runs simultaneously with the pump to ensure high water quality. San Jose Water also conducts hourly collection of water sample from randomly selected concessionaires for turbidity and chlorine residual testing. Once a month, water sample from randomly selected points are submitted to DOH-accredited laboratories for bacteriological testing. Water sample is also collected at source twice a year for physical and chemical analysis. All samples collected comply with the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water. San Jose Water is

now implementing the Comprehensive Septage Management

Project after the city government of the City of San Jose Del Monte passed Ordinance No. 201248-11 in compliance with the Clean Water Act of 2004. The Ordinance requires owners of all residential and commercial structures in the city to desludge their septic tanks once every five years and authorizes San Jose Water to collect the septage, treat the same, and dispose the effluents in accordance with prevailing environmental standards. The Septage Treatment Plant of San Jose Water was completed in March 31, 2015 and septage collection and treatment started immediately the next day. Also, with the recent approval of a 30,000 cubic meters water allocation from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, San Jose Water is looking forward to the implementation of the Comprehensive Water Supply System Improvement Project – Phase III as a response to the long-term and short-term water requirements of the city to realize its vision of making water available to every home in the city by the year 2020. The presence of a reliable water system and septage collection services is San Jose Water’s contribution to the city’s rapid economic development. San Jose Water’s services also translate to an increased land value and employment, reduced incidence of water-borne and water-related diseases, improved health and sanitation, reduced damages from fire, and heightened the people’s trust in government’s delivery of basic services.