A bill seeking to declare the La Mesa Watershed, one of Metro Manila’s source of potable water, as a watershed reservation is now pending at the Senate.

Sen. Pilar Juliana Cayetano filed Senate Bill 1714 or the La Mesa Watershed Act of 2010 to protect the water reservoir from indiscriminate exploitation.

Cayetano said in light of the recent water shortage and the controversy stirred by President Aquino during his State-of-the-Nation Address on the excessive benefits being received by Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) executives, the measure also seeks to conduct an inquiry into the construction of condominium units near the watershed.

As the former head of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources in the 13th Congress, Cayetano had led a Senate probe into the 58-hectare housing project for retired employees and three-hectare housing project for MWSS execs.

“It is imperative that all means necessary are undertaken by the Aquino government to safeguard the La Mesa Watershed, which is the primary source of potable drinking water for 12 million Metro Manila residents,” Cayetano said.

“I hope P-Noy’s inclusion in the SoNA of his concerns on the importance of La Mesa Dam will lead to the tightening of regulations against future activities that threaten to undermine the supply and safety of the water it provides to Metro Manila,” she said.

Under the bill, Cayetano said the watershed will be managed in accordance with the principles of sustainable development without impairing its usefulness as source of water for domestic use and other related purposes.

The measure also seeks to place the La Mesa Watershed Reservation under the joint supervision and control of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and MWSS.

Both agencies will be tasked to create a Multi-Sectoral Watershed Management Council to act as an oversight and policy-making body over the watershed.

The council will be in charge of planning an integrated watershed management and development plan to include, among others, intensive restoration and rehabilitation of the reservation, water quality monitoring and delineation of buffer zone.

With a total area of 2,700 hectares, the La Mesa Watershed is the last remaining forest of its size in the metropolis. Covering 700 hectares within the reservation is a man-made lake which serves as water reservoir for Metro Manila residents.

Cayetano said the watershed also serves as a wildlife sanctuary to many indigenous species of plants, trees, and animals.