67% of Pinoy households have access to running water

MORE than half of Filipino households or 67 percent have access to running and piped water, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) last December showed.

The SWS said the figure accounts for around 17 million households nationwide.

It added that 58 eight percent of the households are billed for their monthly water consumption while nine percent are not billed.

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SWS said the median expense for water consumption of billed consumers is P320 and P300 for those not billed.

In Metro Manila, billed consumers spend an average of P500 per month for their water expenses, P312 in Luzon, P340 in the Visayas and P300 in Mindanao.

For the consumers who are not billed, they consume an average of P400 per month in Metro Manila, P300 in Luzon, P300 in the Visayas, and P225 in Mindanao.

The SWS survey was conducted from December 10 to 14, 2022, with a total of 1,200 adult respondents and a sampling margin of error of ± 2.8 percent.

Prior to the release of the survey results, the government urged the public to prepare for a possible water supply shortage due to an anticipated dry spell brought about by the expected El Niño phenomenon this year.

President Marcos Jr. had also formed the Office of Water Management (OWM) under the Office of the President (OP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to address and ensure the supply of potable drinking water and irrigation during the dry spell.

The President is also pushing for the institutionalization of a Department of Water Management through Congress.

A recent report from the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) said around 11 million Filipino families have no access to clean water and are forced to use unsafe water from deep wells, springs, rivers, lakes, and even rainwater.

A separate survey by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) showed that around 1.8 million poor households in the country still live in areas “where clean water is physically scarce.” This accounts for 33.1 percent of the 5.599 million poor households that it validated last year.