MANILA — The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) on Tuesday said it was addressing water wastage outside of Metro Manila, which was hitting 488 million metric tons or about half of Angat Dam yearly, as the El Niño phenomenon starts.

"Sobrang taas," LWUA chairman Ronnie Ong told ANC's "Headstart" when asked about the rate of water wastage outside of the capital region.

"When I assumed office 2 months ago, ako mismo nagulat. We are averaging around 488 million metric tons na tinatapon natin yearly. That's half of Angat Dam."

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The LWUA handles water districts outside of Metro Manila.

According to Ong, the worldwide average for water wastage is around 20 percent. But the Philippines, he said, is averaging 30 percent.

"We have around 532 water districts under LWUA. And out of the 532, we have around 244 who have numbers higher than 30 percent. And out of the 244, 20 [percent] of them have 21 percent up to 71 percent ang percentage na tinatapon na tubig (of wasted water)," Ong said.

"Do you know that some water districts na 'yung pipes nila panahon pa ng Japanese? Asbestos type. There's also sanitation that comes in. Kailangan po talaga nating tingnan," he added.

(In some districts, their pipes are from the Japanese occupation era. These are made of asbestos. We need to look at these.)

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