Laguna de Bay. (File photo by MARICAR P. CINCO / Inquirer Southern Luzon)
MANILA, Philippines — The water supply of Metro Manila is expected to improve by May 14 since Maynilad Water Services Inc. has already started dealing with the algae proliferation in Laguna de Bay.
The water company has started to increase the chemical dosing in strategic locations around its plant at the lake, Jennifer Rufo, Maynilad corporate communications head, said in an interview on Wednesday with AM radio station DZMM.
The algae proliferation in Laguna Lake, which serves as one of the water sources of Maynilad, resulted in water service interruptions in Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Parañaque, as well as Imus and Bacoor in Cavite.
The water service interruptions will last from April 29 to May 14.
READ: 5 cities under Maynilad to experience water interruption for 15 days
“What we’re doing right now — because the cause of this is the dirty water coming from the lake — we’ve started implementing interventions,” Rufo, speaking partly in Filipino, said. “By May 14, the situation will improve. The impact of the interventions that we’re doing right now will already be felt by then — to such an extent that we can increase the production of the plant there.”
According to Rufo, algae proliferation in the lake is normal, especially during summer season, noting that rain would help speed up the process of eradicating the algae.
“Algae are like plants that thrive when there’s plenty of sun and nutrients in the water,” Rufo said.
She said this was not the first time that algae proliferation was reported in the country. The last algae proliferation happened in 2014.
Rufo, however, did not specify where the incident happened.
“It’s not predictable. It happens in places where it doesn’t rain for a long period of time,” she said.
/atm