Filipinos benefit from Dutch drinking water expertise

Utrecht/Rotterdam - Vitens Evides International is going to help the Philippine water company Davao City Water District (DCWD) professionalise and expand the water services available to its customers. The focus of this partnership is on improving management processes and the company’s financial position. To this end the parties concerned entered into an agreement at the beginning of May.
 
Vitens Evides International, a partnership between the two biggest drinking water companies in The Netherlands, assists DCWD with advice and know-how. The Asian Development Bank and DCWD jointly finance the project. In the city of Davao only 58% of the 1.4 million residents are connected to the water supply at this time.
 
Support
Vitens Evides International is going to support DCWD in three areas:
1. Reducing non-revenue water (NRW) - water which is not paid for – to an economically acceptable level. In addition to this, NRW tasks will be assigned a place within the organisation. The NRW share is currently still 25%. In view of the present restriction on groundwater extraction, it is important that water be optimally used, without too much leakage loss.
2. Assisting with the setting up of an operational management centre, which will become responsible for the distribution of water and for monitoring pressure in the distribution networks.
3. Expanding and setting up groundwater protection plans and determining sustainable water taking permits. On the basis of this DCWD will finally determine its raw water supply master plan.
 
Water Operator Partnership
The partnership is in the form of a Water Operator Partnership contract. This means that Vitens Evides shares the expertise and know-how of the Dutch parent companies on a not-for-profit basis. For this purpose a programme that is tailored to the specific situation in the country/city in question is drawn up and implemented together with the local drinking water company.  
 
Davao
Approximately 1.4 million people live in the Philippine city of Davao. Of these, 58% receive piped water from DCWD, the other 42% use water from self-dug wells and shallow springs and rainwater. The water quality of the last-named category is not good and there is no certainty that people will have access to water, as this varies according to the season. That is why DCWD – together with Vitens Evides International – wants to improve its management processes, so that more people in Davao can be connected to the distribution network and gain access to clean and safe drinking water.