MANAGEMENT OF SURVEY OF WATER UTILITIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LISTAHANG TUBIG
(LISTAHANG TUBIG: 2014 - 2015)

Client and Funding Source: World Bank
Contract duration: 2014 - 2015
Sample Activities: nationwide survey; management information systems development, policy development; institutional development

The project objectives include the: (1) development of a nationwide database and web-based system where data on all water utilities will be made available to all users; (2) generation of profiles of all WSPs and establishment of benchmarks for Level lll water utilities; and (3) improvement of water regulation in the country. The Survey Team mapped out all WSPs, covering Levels l, II and lll in the Philippines. Data collected were encoded in the water registry website and processed for the development of profiles of WSPs and Level III water utilities.

The Listahang Tubig Project is a nationwide survey of water service providers (WSPs). The project addresses the issue of limited and fragmented information on the number of WSPs in the country. Out of the 2,058 known community-based and private utilities, only about 600 are regulated by National Water Resources Board (NWRB). Other water utilities are registered with the Local Water Utilities Board, such as the water districts, and with the Cooperative Development Authority, such as the water cooperatives. An earlier pilot registration study conducted in 2011 for the NWRB, which was also supported by World Bank-Water and Sanitation Program and implemented by OIDCI, completed pilot registration surveys in two provinces to guide the development of regulatory policies, tools and mechanisms to regulate a highly fragmented water industry.

Annual updating of the WSP data in the website is envisioned to sustain availability of data for the use of national agencies and LGUs in their planning and budgeting as well as in identifying investment opportunities in the sector.