CREATION

Sorsogon Water District (SWD) was officially created on December 13, 1974 by virtue of Resolution No. 134 passed and approved by the Municipal Council of Sorsogon, which took effect on December 17, 1974. On February 14, 1975, the waterworks facilities, which were under the management of the Sorsogon municipal waterworks agency, were formally turned-over to the SWD, thus making it the sole utility managing the waterworks operation in the Municipality of Sorsogon. Later, on January 19, 1976, the LWUA issued to SWD its Conditional Certificate of Conformance (CCC) No. 20, as provided for in the Provincial Utilities Act of 1973, making it officially a Water District.

It was renamed SORSOGON CITY WATER DISTRICT (SCWD) after the enactment of Republic Act 8806 in 2001 merging the two (2) municipalities in the Province of Sorsogon, namely: Bacon and Sorsogon that created SORSOGON CITY.

LAW

The concept of Water Districts in the country came into being in 1973 when then President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed into law. Presidential Decree No. 198 known as the Provincial Water Utilities Act of 1973 paving the way for the establishment of local water districts nationwide. Likewise, under this Decree, the Local Water Utilities Administration or LWUA was created to be a specialized lending institution for the promotion, development and financing of local water districts.

PURPOSE

The Water District was formed for the purpose of acquiring, installing, improving, maintaining and operating the local water supply and distribution systems as well as wastewater collection, treatment and disposal facilities, with all operations eventually being carried out on a financially self-sufficient basis.

POLICY MAKERS

The Board of Directors is the highest policy making body of the SCWD. The City Mayor appoints the members of the board for a term of six (6) years representing the various sectors of the community. A sixth member is appointed by LWUA as its representative in the Board whenever a Water District has availed of financial assistance from the Administration. The current members of the Board, their positions and representation are as follow:

MANAGEMENT

The Management emanates from the General Manager and four (4) Division Managers, to wit:

ORGANIZATION

A total of 55 regular employees and several contractual workers comprise the workforce of SCWD serving 7,400 plus active concessionaires as of December 31, 2004.

The Administrative Division provides personnel services in terms of human resource development, property and supply, and general services. All payments and disbursements are coursed through the Finance Division that takes charge of all the financial aspects of the SCWD. The Commercial Division performs billings on water consumption, receives applications and installs water connection. The Engineering Operations Division provides vital function in line with the Construction of new distribution lines, Maintenance of existing Distribution/Service lines and Production to supply concessionaires of their daily water needs.

SERVICES

The SCWD provides water supply to the city through eight (8) upland spring sources located about six (6) kilometers from the service area. This is augmented by seven (7) pumping stations located within the service area each equipped with pumps and motors. Three (3) reservoirs are used to stock up water supply for even distribution of water during demands. The piped water system itself is composed of different sizes of pipes ranging from 19mm ø to 300mm ø made of PE, PVC, GI and Steel of transmission and distribution network.

Water supply pipelines, fittings and appurtenances are installed, operated and maintained by the Engineering Operations Division. The pumping stations are manned by Production Operators that operates the pumps from 10 to 24 hours daily based on the water demand and season. All water services rendered by the SCWD in terms of water supply are paid based on LWUA approved water rate or tariff schedule.

WATER RATES

At present the water rates of SCWD are as follows: