MWSS ‘very concerned’ over Metro Manila water supply for coming summer months
MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Monday said it is “very concerned” over the water supply in Metro Manila during the coming summer months as the water levels in Angat Dam is “below that is desirable” for 24-hour continuous water supply.
However, it is not expecting any water crisis similar to the drought experienced in 2019, MWSS chief regulator Patrick Lester Ty said.
“For the summer months, we are very concerned about the water supply and we are hoping that the public can assist us by conserving water. We have to realize that it’s below the level that is desirable to ensure continuous 24-hour water supply,” he said in an online press briefing.
“But we are not expecting any water crisis during the summer months similar to what happened in 2019 wherein there was no water at all,” Ty added.
He said that water interruptions, if any, are expected to only last for a few hours instead of days.
“It will not result in a 24-hour span when there will be no water at your tap unlike in 2019 wherein people were really lining up outside the streets because there was no water from their tap or tank for 15 days,” Ty said.
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He urged the public to conserve water as early as now to “stretch” the Angat dam water supply.
The MWSS has likewise mobilized efforts to address the looming water problem, saying they have tapped other water agencies for support and it has directed water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water to reactivate their standby deep wells and other water sources.
These, however, are only “band-aid solutions,” Ty admitted, and the “real and long-term solution” would be finding an alternative water source to “address the growing population of Metro Manila.”
“In the meantime, we ask the public to please help conserve the water so we can stretch our Angat Dam water supply so that we will not be wasting water and we will have water by summer,” Ty said.
