THE Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) will implement a 70 percent increase in water rates starting July 2023 and this will be divided into two.Lawyer Jose Daluz III, chairman of the MCWD board of directors, said there would be an adjustment in the water tariff by 60 percent starting July 1, 2023 and “a supplementary adjustment in 2024 by 10 percent.”He said that based on Local Water Utilities Administration guidelines, water utilities can implement a price adjustment every five years. MCWD, however, has not implemented any price adjustment in eight years already.“We have invested so much to raise our water source, and it’s time to adjust our rates because MCWD has been absorbing the expenses for eight years already,“ Daluz said in a mix of English and Cebuano.“In fact, the back-up reserve of MCWD has already been depleted due to the expenses because we have not asked the public to adjust our tariff. I think it’s time to adjust our tariff because it is also not too high,” he added.With the planned adjustment, Daluz said those who have been paying P183.17 per month for consuming 10 cubic meters of water per day will have to pay P250.51 per month starting July 1, 2023.This means an increase of P67.34 per month, or P2.24 per day.At present, most MCWD consumers pay P15.20 per cubic meter for the first 10 cubic meters in a month.“Out of 130-plus water districts all over the Philippines, we are in the top 10 as to the cheapest water. Even with this adjustment, we will still be in the top 10 on the cheapest rate,” said Daluz.MCWD had spent P2.1 billion for its programs and projects that aim to increase the supply of water in Cebu from 2015 to 2022.During this period, the water utility firm was able to add 80,000 cubic meters per day or 80 million liters per day (MLD) of water, replace 12 kilometers of pipelines, and install two septage treatment facilities that are located in Cordova town and Cebu City.The company’s operating expenses had also reached P12 billion in the past eight years, as it had also absorbed the cost in subsidizing 99 percent of its customers, which include households.MCWD was also able to install 140 kilometers of water lines, a 1,000 MLD new modular water tank in Barangay Kalunasan, and 57,000 service connections.As of December 2018, MCWD was producing over 232,000 cubic meters (or 232 million liters) per day and serving over 190,000 service connections in its service area composed of the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela and Cordova. (LMY)