THE National Water Commission (NWC) has issued an advisory, urging the public to be on the lookout for unscrupulous people posing as its employees or bill collectors acting on the commission’s behalf in a guise to gain access to their properties.

In a release yesterday, NWC reminded the public that while its representatives — including meter readers, meter inspectors, leak detectors, census mapping or other company representatives — are all legally empowered to enter customer premises on behalf of the NWC on any day between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm, all NWC representatives are issued with current photographic identification cards and are required to produce valid NWC identification at the customer’s request.

“Any failure to present such an ID by anyone claiming to represent the utility should not be entertained,” NWC said.

NWC said, too, that its representatives do not usually need to go inside a customer’s home, but mostly into the yards where NWC pipes and meters are located.

“The public is urged to report any suspicious approach by anyone claiming to represent the NWC to the nearest police station, 119, or the NWC’s Security Department at 929-5430-5 or 920-1503,” the release said.