The House Committees on Government Reorganization and Public Works and Highways on Tuesday approved a substitute bill creating a department that will be the primary agency responsible for the management of water resources in the country.

The consolidated version of the bill stemmed from 35 bills seeking the creation of Department of Water and under the substitute bill, the new department shall be called Department of Water Resources (DWR), with the National Water Resources comprising the core organization.

The DWR shall establish a National Framework for Water Resource Management, under the bill and it declares that it is a policy of the state to ensure that safe, quality and affordable water must be accessible to all particularly the poor and to establish more water treatment facilities.

The proposed measure also creates an independent regulatory and quasi-judicial body to be known as the Water Regulatory Commission as an attached agency of the new department.

The functions of the water agencies such as River Basin Control Office, Manila Bay Coordinating Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resouces, Flood Management Planning and Sediment Functions of the Department of Public Works and Highway and the Water Supply and Sanitation Unit of the Department of Interior and Local Government, among others the shall be transferred to the DWR.

Under the bill, the following agencies shall be attached to the DWR: Metro Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Water Utlities Administration, Laguna Lake Development Authority, Pasig Rver Rehabilitation Commission and National Irrigation Administration.

The bill includes that concession agreements and other existing contracts for water supply provision currently existing shall remain valid, unless invalidated by the Commission where public interest so dictates, after due notice and hearings for reasons provided in the concession or service agreement or contract.