La Mesa Dam Watershed

Another La Mesa project poses risk
By Jefferson Antiporda, Reporter

ANOTHER housing project in the La Mesa Dam watershed could contaminate the water Metro Manila uses.

The existence of the 58-hectare project came up during a meeting Tuesday of the Save La Mesa Dam coalition.

While the first project provides housing for the rank and file employees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, the second one is for MWSS executives, according Mar Canonigo, associate director of the Sinag ng Bayan, a member of the coalition.

Canonigo said the three-hectare village for MWSS executives, located less than a kilometer from the reservoir, could also pose danger to the water stored there.
Other possible threats

“The rank and file housing project is located 1.2 kilometers from the reservoir, farther than the executive housing. If we want to stop the housing for the employees, we also have to protest against other possible threats,” Canonigo said.

He said he will leave the coalition if it does not include the executive village in the protest.
Canonigo said he saw the construction of at least 54 executive houses, two of which are owned by a MWSS representative of the Government Corporate Council and a Commission on Audit resident auditor.

John Paul Balayon, operation manager of ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.-Bantay Kalikasan, admitted the existence of the executive housing within the watershed, but he dismissed fears that it could endanger the water supply.

Balayon explained that the housing area is downstream of the watershed, meaning the wastewater that will come from the houses will not flow toward the reservoir even though it is situated closer than the rank and file housing.

The 58-hectare housing project for the rank and file employees is located upstream, he said, so all the wastewater from the houses will drain to the reservoir and contaminate the water supply.

He based his claim on the study of the UP National Hydraulic Research Center, commissioned by the MWSS, which warned of the negative effects of the housing projects on the source of potable water for Metro Manila’s 12 million residents.

The center’s director, Professor Leonardo Liongson, said the project would contaminate the reservoir through runoff and ground-water seepage.

The executive housing, Balayon said, also has an Environment Compliance Certificate, but Canonigo noted that the ECC could easily be bought from government agencies that issue it, particularly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Laguna Lake Development Authority.

The housing project is part of the 1968 collective bargaining agreement between the MWSS and two of its labor unions—Kaisahan at Kapatiran ng Nawasa and the Balara Employees’ Association.

The Supreme Court has ruled with finality that the agreement is valid.

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After I finished reading this news, I was shocked and at the same time mad. Who would have thought of such project? Have they thought of the effects? And most especially, are they insane? Good thing I was able to pass a sheet of petition paper to stop the housing project. Have you?

I usually start off the entry with good points but in this entry, there is no good points; zero. Maybe there is one – there will be houses for the people, unfortunate ones – but in my perception, it is not. It is because all things including those houses that they will build has its cost and I ask you, can the target market avail it? Maybe they can if it is free.

Moreover, even though they say the housing project only covers 58-hectares it is still a huge lot and they would be destroying the reservoir and the trees as well. In connection with that, the cutting of trees would contribute to global warming. You see, it has so many negative effects yet they still want to pursue it. They should reconsider this issue for the safety of all.

Water is Life. With unclean water, human lifespan would be shortened. So stop the housing project. :)