MANILA, Philippines--The Wawa Dam in ROdriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal, supplied water to Metro Manila and Bulacan from 1908 to 1968, when the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System stopped the dam’s operations after it was found sitting just above the Marikina fault line.

Angat Dam in Bulacan now supplies most of Metro Manila’s water.

In 1993, San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders (SLRB), a private company, offered to rehabilitate Wawa Dam on a build-operate-transfer basis.

But in November 1997, the plan to tap water from the Wawa Dam to ease the shortage brought by the El Niño was declared not feasible by the MWSS because of high concentration of pollutants in the reservoir.

As of May 2008, SLRB’s proposal to renovate the dam and water intake, remove silt, and build a new transport pipeline and treatment plant was still being evaluated by the MWSS. The project was estimated to cost $30 million. Inquirer Research