Angat privatization threatens Metro Manila’s water supply

State-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said that the impending privatization of the Angat hydroelectric power plant may adversely affect Metro Manila’s water supply. Diosdado Jose Allado, MWSS administrator, said the privatization of the 246-megawatt plant poses a threat to Metro Manila’s water requirements because the Angat dam, from which it draws its power, may be utilized primarily for power generation instead of for domestic consumption.

“If this is acquired through the privatization initiative presumably by a power entity, [and] then Angat will not be utilized primarily for water supply,” he explained.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the government, through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), is mandated to privatize state-owned National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) power plants, which include Angat and the dam that comes with it.

Located along the Angat River in Norzagaray, Bulacan, the dam supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s water needs. It also provides irrigation to farmlands in the outlying areas.

Rationale for Laiban

Because of this, Allado said that the government needed to develop other bulk water supply sources, such as the proposed $1-billion Laiban dam project, which is currently being negotiated with San Miguel Corp.

“It behooves us to develop indeed the Laiban dam as an alternative or secondary source of bulk water,” he said.

Although Napocor now manages and operates the dam, it is constrained to prioritize water from the facility for Metro Manila’s requirements during water shortages under the Water Code of the Philippines.

Napocor President Froilan Tam­pinco earlier said that a protocol would have to be in place to ensure that Angat’s water supply was prioritized for drinking-water supply before it was used for power generation.

“Whoever decides to invest in Angat would have to take that into consideration, as his power generation capability will be confined to that region in the load curve of the day which is reserved for peaking. [The investor] would have to be concerned that there is water for domestic use, irrigation and lastly for power generation,” he added.

PSALM targets to privatize the facility within the year—the last of 12 government-owned hydroelectric power plants lined up for privatization.  –Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter, Manila Times