PrimeWater

Primewater Infrastructure Corporation is a water and wastewater services provider in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures, Inc. The company was associated with the Villar business and political family which includes former senators Manny and Cynthia Villar before being sold to tycoon Lucio Co.

History

PrimeWater was established on August 10, 2006. In five years, it has expanded its reach to cover areas across the Philippines in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Water in the Philippines are supplied by water districts which are government-owned which often deals with funding issues. This led to them entering into public private partnerships to develop their water supply capabilities. Among these private firms is PrimeWater, which continued to expand in the 2010s by entering joint venture agreements with state-owned water districts.
By 2021, PrimeWater controls 100 water districts out of the more than 500 districts in the Philippines according to the Local Water Utilities Administration.
In 2023, the Commission on Audit noted lapses on PrimeWater's JVAs with Dasmariñas, Silang, Tagaytay, Trece Martires, and Malaybalay water districts.
In May 2025, the LWUA began investigating PrimeWater over its alleged poor services and high cost leading to an order by President Bongbong Marcos. The investigation also examined alleged conflicts of interest involving Mark Villar, who was a secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways when PrimeWater's JVAs were significantly expanded in 2019 while LWUA was attached to the department.
In December 2025, the Villar group announced that that Crystal Bridges Holding Corp. of Lucio Co will acquire full ownership of Primewater.

Service areas

By 2021, PrimeWater entered into joint venture of operations with 100 water districts in the Philippines according to the LWUA. Water districts by law cannot be sold to private corporations, hence PrimeWater develops these areas under a joint venture agreement.

Pre-termination of joint venture agreements

In March 2025, the Quezon Metropolitan Water District initiated the termination of its joint venture agreement with PrimeWater. In its official resolution, QMWD explicitly stated that PrimeWater "committed breaches which caused dissatisfaction of the concessionaires on the services of ."
The following month, the San Jose del Monte Water Board also moved to pre-terminate their joint venture agreements with PrimeWater, citing mounting consumer complaints, poor service quality and risks to public health. In August, the provincial government of Bulacan formally moved to terminate all joint venture agreements with PrimeWater in the province.
Other local government units and water districts also moved to pre-terminate their JVAs with PrimeWater, including:

In La Union, the Metro San Fernando Water District which supplies water to the city of San Fernando, and the towns of Bauang, Bacnotan, San Juan, and San Gabriel terminated its JVA with PrimeWater on 8 May 2025. However, PrimeWater petitioned the San Fernando Regional Trial Court for a protection order, which was granted in June 2025, allowing the company to continue overseeing the water supply in the MSFWD service area.