MANILA – Around 17 million or 67 percent of Filipino households have access to running or piped water, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Thursday.

The survey, conducted from Dec. 10 to 14, found that 58 percent of those households with piped water access were billed for their water use, while 9 percent were not billed for their consumption.

For those who were billed, the median expense is recorded at PHP320 per month. Particularly, the median water bills would reach PHP500 per month in Metro Manila, PHP312 a month in Balance Luzon, PHP340 monthly in Visayas, and PHP300 per month in Mindanao.

The national average water price for unbilled households is PHP300 a month -- PHP400 monthly in Metro Manila, PHP300 per month in Balance Luzon and in Visayas, and PHP225 in Mindanao.

SWS interviewed 1,200 adult Filipinos using a sampling error margins of ±2.8 percent.