Water service provider consultants on Tuesday said Metro Manila’s water supply this year should still prove bearable.
But Ramon Alikpala, chief executive officer of FutureWater Asia, warned that next year’s supply may prove challenging should there be no rain in the hot months ahead till around September due to the impact of weather disruptions known as El Niño.
“Over 90 percent of Metro Manila’s water comes from Angat Dam and its level is based on rainfall. Rain usually happens after the summer (months) so the water level increases and we build up storage in the dams. Water level in January is high but will go down over time, especially during summer,” Alikpala said at the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City on Tuesday.
He drew a “scary” scenario in which no rain falls from September onwards such that the various dams that catch and hold water to supply Metro Manila residents are unable to carry on and deliver water “that will carry us to next year.”
“It’s not this year. The concern will be next year if the rains don’t come,” Alikpala said.
In the same venue, representatives from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) announced a scheduled meeting with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) on April 12 to reiterate the need to increase the allocation of water for households from the Angat Dam to 52 cubic meters per second (CMS) from the current 50 CMS.
“If the NWRB does not grant that request to increase (supply) to 52 CMS, we have other augmentation measures, but we are hopeful that it will be approved even for just a limited period to also maintain water levels at the Ipo and La Mesa Dam.”
Delfin Sespene, MWSS head of site and field operations and management department
The augmentation measures he mentioned include recovery of non-revenue water, supply and pressure management, activation of existing deep wells, and the fast tracking of repairs on raw water conveyance systems, among others.
In March, the MWSS said water supply in Metro Manila from the Angat Dam given the expected impact of El Niño remains “comfortable”, based on simulations.
Leonor Cleofas, MWSS administrator, recently said the technical working group chaired by the NWRB, with the National Irrigation Administration MWSS and other stakeholders of the Angat dam as members conducted simulations supporting “good prognosis” for water levels at the dams till around end-August this year.
Data from the National Power Corp., as of April 11 show Angat Dam water elevation at 199.11 meters, which is 19.11 meters more than the 180-meter minimum operating level.
