For non-payment of their P5-million water bill, residents of Palar Village in Taguig City has been reeling from a lack of water supply for almost a week now.

This happened after the so-called people’s organization taking care of collecting the payment for water supplied to Palar households failed to remit the amount to Manila Water, prompting the distributor to cut off water supply to the village.

Residents said Inner Port Neighborhood, the group tasked to charge and bill residents for water usage, failed to remit their payments, leaving them with P5 million owed to MW.

Barangay Pinagsama chairperson Ma. Victoria Mortel said they paid P650,000 last week but the MW said it is insufficient for reconnection.

Palar Village is under bulk metering since the land where it stands is owned by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. Residents are also paying almost twice the residential rate ranging from P65 to P74 per cubic meter.

Fire trucks were deployed to the village to help waterless residents but some said they were not able to get free water.

The fire trucks could not reach households at the other end of the barangay.

Fire trucks were deployed to the village to help waterless residents.

The barangay chairman said they will designate six stations around the village for the faster distribution of water supply.

Water shortage have been a cause of concerns in the metropolis because of the declining water level of Angat Dam, where water for Metro Manila and irrigation for parts of Bulacan comes from. As of 5 May, the dam’s water level is down to 185 meters.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources temporarily prohibited golf courses from watering their greens to conserve water.