COA: Partido Water Supply System lost 45 percent of water production in 2023

GOVERNMENT auditors have called out the Partido Development Administration (PDA) to immediately address the worsening losses in water production of the Partido Water Supply System (PWSS) which supplies 2,091 household and commercial connections in Camarines Sur.

PDA is a corporate body created by Republic Act No. 7820 in 1994 to spur development in 10 municipal-ities of the province of Camarines Sur, namely, Tigaon, Sagnay, Goa, San Jose, Lagonoy, Presentacion, Caramoan, Garchitorena, Tinambac, and Siruma.

It operates the PWSS which supplies potable water to the 10 municipalities out of nine pumping sta-tions.

The 2023 audit of the PDA revealed that from January to November 2023, non-revenue water (NRW) or water lost through leaks in the distribution system or through illegal connections hit 45.34 percent – way above the 25 percent maximum limit set by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

In real water volume, the non-revenue water represented 4.056 million cubic meters out of the total production of 8.96 million cubic meters last year.

“The occurrence of high NRW was attributable to pipeline leakages, pilferages, inaccuracy of installed water meters, constant flushing during repairs and unbilled authorized water consumptions requested by other government agencies,” the Commission on Audit said.

A review of the prior years’ production data showed the problem was not only left unresolved but has grown steadily in the past three years.

In 2021, the non-revenue water was recorded at 40.38 percent. This climbed to 43.64 percent in 2022 and 45.34 last year.

With nearly half of its water supply disappearing without a trace, the PDA missed its P36 million target net income for the year by a big margin as billed water only netted P30.504 million in revenue.

The PWSS Division Manager of Engineering and Operation admitted that the PWSS is caught in difficult predicament because tracing and plugging the leaks, replacing obsolete lines, and catching illegal con-nections would cost a lot of money that it cannot raise because it is losing income from non-revenue water.

“We recommended that Management continuously monitor and fully implement their NRW Reduction Plan and