Earlier assurances against uninterrupted water services across Metro Manila in April have proven tentative with the regulator, the National Water Resource Board (NWRB), now saying the first two weeks will enjoy the full measure but the other two weeks may not.
This has to do with the NWRB originally saying the water allocation from the Angat Dam for Metro Manila residents will not be reduced to 48 cubic meters per second and will be kept at 50 CMS to guarantee water flowing out of faucets as and when required.
But on Wednesday, NWRB executive director Ricky Arzadon in Muntinlupa City told reporters the assurance is no longer ironclad as the full measure of services is only guaranteed from 1 through 15 April this year and not on the rest of the month when the likelihood of water delivery for Metro Manila service areas at the reduced rate of 48 CMS is high.
To be sure, Arzadon said the reduction was by no means a certainty at this point, saying its adoption depends on how events at the water reservoirs unfold and whether or not any change will carry over into May and June.
“It will depend on circumstances. We cannot tell at the moment but we have projections,” he said.
The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) also previously ruled out reducing the water allocation from the Angat Dam although the situation will be managed by reducing the pressure in water pipes across the system during off-peak hours.
As this develops, the MWSS told water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water to prepare contingent measures including the deployment of static tanks.
Ronald Padua, water supply operations head at Maynilad Water Services Inc., said 129 static tanks have already been deployed in elevated areas across Metro Manila affected by the deliberate lowering of water pressure.
“They are now ready for use, especially in populous areas,” Padua said.
Maynilad also on Wednesday inaugurated a modular water treatment plant in Muntinlupa City yesterday that treats raw water from Laguna Lake using ceramic ultrafiltration technology.
Maynilad said the P650 million facility is operated under a build-operate-transfer contract by Rendco-FFJJ Consortium although the company has the option to purchase it after five or seven years.
The water concessionaire said the Laguna Lake Modular Treatment Plant (ModTP) can produce 20 million liters of potable water per day, augmenting the production of Maynilad’s three existing treatment facilities in Muntinlupa that also use the Laguna Lake as source.
