A Masteral Thesis Master in Public Administration major in Government Adfministration and Community Development L-NU Dagupan City

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THE OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF LOCAL WATER
DISTRICTS IN EASTERN PANGASINAN
_____________________
A Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School
LYCEUM – NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Dagupan City
_______________________________
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for the Degree
Master in Public Administration
By:
RACHAEL C. ESPINOZA
March, 2012

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CERTIFICATION AND APPROVAL SHEET
This thesis entitled “THE OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF
LOCAL WATER DISTRICTS IN EASTERN PANGASINAN has been prepared and
submitted by RACHAEL C. ESPINOSA in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree MASTER IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION” has been examined and is
recommended for the Final Oral Examination on March 18, 2012 .
JOSEFINA B. BITONIO, DPA
Adviser
Thesis Committee
ROMANA O. FABREGAS, Ph.D.
Chairman
JOSEPHINE T. FLORES, DPA CYNTHIA P. LOPEZ, Ph.D.
Member Member
Approved on March 18, 2012 by the Panel of Examiners on Oral Examination with a
grade of 96%.
ROMANA O. FABREGAS, Ph.D
Chairman
JOSEPHINE T. FLORES, DPA CYNTHIA P. LOPE, Ph.D.
Member Member
Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER
IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION.
Comprehensive Exam 98% Date: July 3, 2010
ROMANA O. FABREGAS, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate School

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CERTIFICATION OF THE READING COMMITTEE
This is to certify that the undersigned members of the Reading Committee have read
the thesis entitled “THE OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT PRCTICES OF
LOCAL WATER DISTRICTS IN EASTERN PANGASINAN. The reading
committee found the thesis acceptable in accordance with the requirements and standards
in thesis writing. She is recommended for Final Oral Examination on his thesis on March
18, 2012.
ROMANA O. FABREGAS, Ph.D.
Chairman
JOSEFINA B. BITONIO, DPA JOSEPHINE T. FLORES, DPA
Adviser Member
CYNTHIA P. LOPEZ, Ph.D.
Member

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The researcher wishes to express her profound gratitude to all those who unselfishly
and contributed to the realization of this academic endeavor. Specifically, she invokes
the Almighty’s blessings upon the following:
Dr. Romana O. Fabregas, Dean of the Graduate School and Chairman of her panel
for the helpful suggestion, eloquent comments and guidance that greatly improved the
study;
She would like to express her gratitude to her adviser, Dr. Josefina B. Bitonio, for
the unwavering support, sacrifice, patience, understanding and for gladly sharing her
valuable time and expertise in the conduct of this research;
Dr. Josephine T. Flores and Dr. Cynthia P. Lopez of LNU Graduate School, who
served as panel members for their support and very useful comments;
Dr. Lucila M. Caccam, for her editorial advices and constructive comments and
assistance in reviewing the final version of the manuscript;
The researchers gratefully acknowledges the works of his sources, references,
journals, published papers and unpublished papers that made a concrete contribution to
this study. The Officers and staff of the nine Local Water Districts in Eastern
Pangasinan namely: Balungao Water District, San Nicolas Water District, Umingan
Water District, San Manuel Water District, Metro Tayug Water District, San Quintin,
Water District, Sta. Maria Water District, Asingan Water District and Rosales Water

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District for their cooperation and support for providing the needed data;
To all the employees of the Metro Tayug Water District for their support and endless
encouragement;
Deepest gratitude goes to her family, for their love, support and counseling
throughout her life and her dearest husband who served as her inspiration in the
completion of this thesis; and above all, to the Lord Almighty, for providing her the
needed strength, courage, wisdom and determination in pursuing this study.
RACHAEL C. ESPINOZA

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DEDICATION
Water remains to be one of the critical resources that support
the country’s economic and social development.
This study is dedicated to all
water service provider stakeholders for
them to respond to the pronounced need to
improve and expand water service coverage
and, thus, help ensure that potable water is
provided to every Filipino.

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THESIS ABSTRACT
Title The Operation and Management Practices of Local Water Districts in
Eastern Pangasinan
Author RACHAEL C. ESPINOZA
Degree Master in Public Administration
Major in Major in Government Administration and Community
Development
Institution Lyceum – Northwestern University
Graduate Studies Department
Dagupan City
Date March, 2012
Page 131
Adviser JOSEFINA B. BITONIO, DPA
Key Words Operation, Management Practices, Local Water Districts
Abstract
The study assessed the operation and management practices of the Local
Water Districts in Eastern Pangasinan. The descriptive – evaluative design was used in
the study to examine the LWDs organizational and management aspects as well as the
benefits derived internally and externally stretching to community and other
stakeholders. The organizational profile was made through a documentary analysis of a
primary data from LWDs while two sets of questionnaire were used as primary data
gathering tool for the qualitative assessment. There were 171 respondents of the study
consisted of the managers, accountant or bookkeepers and members of the board of
Directors and residential, commercial and industrial users for clients. The statistical
tools used were frequency, percentage, average weighted means, and ranking.
1. Organizational Profile.
1.1 Service Connections. Of all the nine LWDs Out of the total nine LWDs three
has a 1001 – 1500 service connection namely: Balungao WD, San Nicolas WD and
Umingan WD; two LWDs has 501 – 2000 service connection, namely: San Manuel
WD and Metro Tayug WD; San Quintin WD have 501 – 1000 service connection;

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Sta. Maria WD have 2001 – 2500; Asingan WD have 3029 service connections and
Rosales have 4547 service connection. Simply put, Rosales WD has the highest service
connection and San Quintin has the lowest. 1.2 Population Served. Four LWDs
namely: Asingan WD and Rosales WD are serving the greatest number of population.
In contrast Balungao WD, San Nicolas WD, and Umingan are serving the lowest while
Sta. Maria WD, San Manuel WD and Metro Tayug WD are serving 10,001 – 20,000.
1.3 Water Rate. The minimum water consumption is 10 cu.m. The nine LWDs have
varying rate ranging from P 169 to P 299 (exclusive of 2% franchise tax). Rosales WD
has the lowest water rate and with Asingan WD and San Nicolas WD the highest at P
299 each. San Manuel WD at P 199; Metro Tayug WD at P 204, Sta Maria WD at P
218, Umingan WD at P240, Balungao WD at P 262, San Quintin WD at P 295. 1.4
Collection Efficiency. As it turned out, the most efficient LWD in the collection of
billed volume of water is Sta Maria WD at 98%, Rosales WD at 97.73, San Quintin
WD, Umingan WD, San Nicolas WD all performed at 97% each, San Manuel WD at
94%, Balungao WD at 92.81% and Metro Tayug WD at 91.19%. 1.5 Water
Production. The LWDs have a production ranging from 21,000 - 1,365,473. Rosales
WD produces the highest volume of water at 1,365,473 cu.m., followed by Metro Tayug
WD at 585,911cu.m., San Nicolas WD at 511,718 cu.m., Balungao WD at 386,911
cu.m., Umingan WD at 297,223 cu.m., San Manuel WD at 263,382 cu.m., Asingan
WD at 45,778.60 cu.m., Sta. Maria WD at 40,924 cu.m. and San Quintin WD with
21,000 cu.m. 1.6 Non Revenue Water. Findings show the following efficiency ranking
of the LWDs in NRW: Balungao WD as the most efficient at 13.84 % and Metro Tayug
WD as the least efficient at 35.7%. The rest of the LWDs have the following NRW
efficiency performance: Sta. Maria WD at 14%, Rosales WD with 14.90%, Asingan
WD with 15%, San Nicolas WD with 17%, San Manuel WD with 19.50%, Umingan
WD, and San Quintin WD 33%. 1.7 Connections per Employee. Of the nine LWDs,
four were “overload” in service connection per employee namely: Asingan WD, Rosales
WD, Sta. Maria WD, and Metro Tayug WD. Four LWDs were slightly overload
namely: Balungao WD, San Manuel WD, San Nicolas WD, and Umingan WD. San
Quintin WD was found to be “underload”.
2. Operation and Management Practices of LWDs.
2.1 Operational Practices. The following areas are the “highly practiced” by the
LWDs: Board's participation in policy making and implementation of policies approved
(4.44), Leak detection (4.33); pipe maintenance (4.55); Fixing problems on service
disruptions (4.66); Conduct of Bacteriological tests (physical/chemical tests required
annually) and chlorination for water testing (4.88); Water treatment & compliance with
water quality standard (5.0); efficient collection (4.55); Availability of the
facilities/equipments (4.22); On time billing (5.0); Availability of manpower whenever
emergency arises, and (4.55); form the workforce into high performance teams (4.22).
On the other hand, the remaining areas rated “practiced” as follows: Written Standard
Operating Procedures for efficiency and effectiveness (4.11); upgrading of infrastructure
(4.11); Progressive treatment for workers and stronger rights for workers (4); and use
of information technology (3.77). The grand weighted mean resulted to 4.42 with a
descriptive rating of “highly practiced”. 2.2 Management Practices. The practices that

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were rated “highly practiced” are: the implementation of cost effective ways to deliver
services (4.22); Implementation cost efficiency measures of their operations (4.22);
Decrease of delinquent accounts (4.77); Reliable customer services (4.55); Transparency
and make clear exactly what customers are paying and their bills (4.88); Full
accountability for services and charges (4.88); Periodic savings (4.44); Human resources
performance review (4.22); and Regular review of financial performance (4.55). The
other practices which were rated “practiced” are Lowest Non revenue Water (4.0);
Ability to attract investors for service expansion (3.55); regular human resources
capability building (4.11); continuous improvement (4.11); Enabling and motivating
workers to develop, share and apply their knowledge and skills more fully (4.11); and
Take full advantage of advances in information technology (3.77).The overall grand
weighted mean is 4.296 which a descriptive rating of “highly practiced”.
3. Benefits of the Stakeholders in Operating a Local Water District
The findings of the study indicated that the stakeholders of LWDs “benefited” in
terms of contributing to economic growth in local economy and stimulating growth
(3.53); Working closely with local leaders and customers. (3.4); Able to access to
technical assistance (3,98); enjoys tax exempt privilege (3.7); affordability of service
rendered to customers (4.18); Partnership with NGOs, public sectors and private sectors
for developments and other projects(3.42); and provision for social responsibility
programs (3.34). Other benefits have been rated “slightly benefited” by LWD
stakeholders in terms of the following: Access to development fund (3.21); Equity
generation (3.23): and Institutional development programs (3.13). The overall grand
mean is 3.51 with a descriptive rating of “benefited”.
4. Problems being Met by the LWDs in Eastern Pangasinan.
4.1 On the financial side, the ability to raise capital (3.28) has a descriptive rating of
“serious”. The remaining problems such as limited revenue base (2.77); limited budget
(3.31); and inability to meet growing demand (2.73). The overall mean for problems
encountered under financial aspects resulted to 3.02 with a descriptive rating of
“slightly serious”. 4.2 On technical aspects, the indicator difficulty to comply with
water standards have a weighted mean 3.64 with a descriptive rating “serious” while the
rest of the indicators such as: Lack of appropriate skills in performing duties (3.28); No
operational manual formulated (2.87); and unclear instructions provided by the
management (3.12) has a descriptive rating of “slightly serious”. The overall mean for
problems under technical has a weighted mean of 3.12 with a descriptive rating of
“slight serious”. 4.3 Human Relation aspects. Two problems on human relation: Lack
of experience and expertise (3.43) and Poor performance of employees (3.47) have a
descriptive rating of “serious” while the remaining two problems such as low
compensation (2.79) and poor governance of officers (3.68) has a descriptive rating of
“slightly serious”. The overall weighted mean is 3.34 with a descriptive rating “slightly
serious”. The grand weighted mean for financial, technical and human relation is 3.16
with a descriptive rating of “slightly serious”.
Based on the findings made, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. The LWDs
in Eastern Pangasinan are small players in the water industry. 2.The LWDs in Eastern
Pangasinan manifested low compliance with the acceptable limits set by the LWUA as
shown by the differences in their water rate, labor productivity, collection efficiency and

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increasing non revenue water; 3. Operationally, the LWDs have limited funding to
institute a development program for its human resource as well as for infrastructure
upgrading and improving its processes with the use of information technology; 4. There
are problems encountered by the LWDs. The most serious of which are: the ability to
raise capital; difficulty to comply with water standards; lack of experience and expertise
and poor employee performance.
Based from the conclusions made, the following recommendations are forwarded.
1. To strengthen the operation and management of LWDs in Eastern Pangasinan, they
may gain access to LWUA’s varied development services, such as: financial assistance
in the form of loans at concessionary rates; engineering/technical services and assistance
on project identification, planning, detailed engineering sign, construction supervision of
water projects, operation and maintenance of systems; and institutional development and
regulatory services in the form of skills and management training, management
advisory, water rates review/regulation, and water quality regulations; 2. All LWDs
must have a written Operating Procedures as guide for it human resources in the
implementation of its technical, financial, administrative processes and procedures and
formulate rules and regulations for their enforcement geared towards effectiveness and
efficiency of water utility management; 3. The LWDs should improve their
compliance with LWUA. With a high compliance performance in placed, it is expected
that it would translate to more benefits and sustainability of the LWDs; and 4. Finally,
the intervention measures p roposed by the researcher grouped into three areas
of concerns: Operation and Management, Financial, and Human Resource are
offered.

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