THE Dagupan City Water District (DCW) has deferred its plan to adjust the water rate here originally scheduled to start July 1, 2008.

DCWD General Manager Ramon Reyna said the water district deferred to the city council to postpone the water rate adjustment due to the impact of the past typhoon Cosme as well as the deepening economic crisis not only in Dagupan but the entire country.

Reyna’s letter to the city council took consideration of the city’s council resolution seeking postponement of the rate increase.

In an earlier letter to the city council the DCWD was asking for a 30 percent water rate increase for the first two years and another 15 percent increase for the succeeding two years.

He said the DCWD believes that within six months, “highly determined effort of the national leadership and the vaunted resiliency of the Filipino entrepreneurial spirit would pull us to the crisis.

Reyna revealed that DCWD’s next move is to submit the recommendation to the DCWD Board of Directors in its next meeting on June 19 so that the deferment of the effectivity date would be formalized. (PNA)