THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) lost 29.48 million cubic meters (cu. m.) from its distribution network in 2022, close to one-third of its 90.25 million cu. m. water total water production.
This was revealed by government auditors in the 2022 audit of MCWD released on July 26, 2023. A copy of the report is accessible to the public on the official website of the Commission on Audit.
Monitoring by the audit team revealed MCWD’s water losses have steadily increased each year from 20.034 million cu. m. in 2020, 24.542 million cu. m. in 2021, and 29.481 million cu. m. in 2022.
If computed by the percentage of the annual total production, the COA said MCWD lost 25.26 percent in 2020, 29.04 percent in 2021, and 32.67 percent in 2022.
Total water production minus the billed consumption of MCWD’s consumers is written down as “non-revenue water” or NRW.
“Simply put, NRW represents the difference between the volume of water put into a water distribution system and the volume that is billed to customers,” the COA explained.
Auditors said the distribution losses were attributed to theft, evaporation, faulty metering, poor data gathering, and leaks.
They pointed out that the Local Water Utilities Administration has issued Board Resolution No. 444, series of 2009 limiting NRW to a maximum of 20 percent of total production to promote efficiency and financial viability of water districts.
MCWD management assured the COA that it is working to reduce the NRW rate but said its efforts are adversely affected by drilling activities of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and telecommunications companies that cause damage to underground water pipes.
“These incidents resulted in leaks that took time to discover, leading to delayed repairs and actions. We estimate that we lost 3,095.74 cubic meters per day due to these incidents,” the MCWD informed the audit team.
When drilling damage is reported or discovered, MCWD cannot simply dig up the damaged portion to do immediate repairs as it is also required by the law to first secure excavation permits, thereby prolonging the leaks and worsening water loss.
It also admitted losses caused by leaks in the old main and transition pipelines, some of which are already 30 to 40 years old.
Besides saving water to augment its hard-pressed supply, the MCWD has another reason to reduce its NRW losses.
The COA noted that NRW is bleeding the water district’s revenues by an average of P117.76 million each year or a total of P353.28 million between 2020 and 2022.
