Manila Water sees possible water supply increase by end of March

BLAME IT ON EL NIÑO. The dry spell has caused the water level at La Mesa Dam, a major source of water for Metro Manila, to dip to 69.02 meters on Sunday morning, close to its critical level of 69. At 4 p.m., the level dropped to 68.93. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Water said on Wednesday said it is looking at an increase in its water supply by the end of March as a water supply crisis continues to affect some parts of Metro Manila.

“Based on our projections, based on the level of La Mesa [dam] and given to what they [customers] used to enjoy in terms of demand, this will last [until] summer. There will be points that the supply will increase by end of March,” Manila Water Company President Ferdinand Dela Cruz said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Dela Cruz said Manila Water will get water supply from a new water source in Cardona, Rizal which will give 50 million liters per day (MLD) which will increase to 100 MLD by August. He added that the company will also get 50 MLD from the Maynilad Water Company.

Dela Cruz added that Manila Water cannot state as of yet when their water distribution operations will normalize as the company will still conduct “rotational water service interruptions” to fill up its reservoirs.

“We are working on progressive improvement on supply but ang iniiwasan ko magbigay ng false expectations na gaganda na,” he said.

“Because we also need to fill up the reservoirs and to do that [there] this is some sort of conditioning of our customers. We will have to do more aggressive rotational interruption in order to fill up the reservoirs which are now in low levels,” Dela Cruz added.

Dela Cruz also appealed to customers to be patient as he assured that Manila Water double efforts to solve the water crisis.

“It is going to be a long summer and we ask our customers to bear with us as we progressively improve and find better ways,” he said.

“We [will] continue to update our customers on a daily basis on what we can provide and hopefully we become predictable in the coming days,” he added.

Manila Water, which gets its water supply from the La Mesa Dam, has conducted pressure and supply reduction schemes, which resulted in service interruptions in parts of Metro Manila.

On Sunday, the water level at La Mesa dam already dropped to 68.93 meters, breaching the 69-meter critical low level.

READ: La Mesa Dam water breaks critical level

The water level at the dam continues to drop with the onset of El Niño, a dry spell caused by periodic warming in the eastern Pacific Ocean.  /muf