Southern Metro folk face 2 more months of dry taps

Carinderia owner Analiza Cunanan has been lacking sleep for the past three months because she can only wash the dishes at her eatery late at night, when there’s water flowing from the faucet.

“There’s a whole pile of plates and pans used during the day,” she said. “Once they attract cockroaches, that’s ‘good-bye’ to my customers.”

Unfortunately for the 54-year-old resident of Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa City, more nights of toil at the kitchen sink lie ahead.

Maynilad Water Services Inc. on Wednesday announced two more months of service interruption in the southern Metro Manila cities of Muntinlupa, Las Piñas and Parañaque, and in Imus, Cavite province.

The daily cutoffs, to be felt by residents up to Oct. 31, is necessary “to maximize the limited supply due to reduced water production,” according to the utility firm.

The affected barangays are Almanza Uno, Almanza Dos and Talon Tres in Las Piñas; BF Homes in Parañaque; Alabang, Ayala Alabang, Bayanan, Poblacion, Putatan, Sucat and Tunasan in Muntinlupa; and Anabu I-D and I-F, Anabu II-A to II-F, Malagasang I-D to I-F, Malagasanf II-A to II-E and II-G in Imus, Cavite.

“The significant increase in the concentration of total dissolved solids in Laguna Lake has forced us to reduce the water production of our water treatment plant in (Putatan,) Muntinlupa,” Maynilad said. “We had to reduce production to ensure that the water we supply to our customers in Muntinlupa continues to meet the Philippine Standards for Drinking Water.”

The Maynilad head for water supply operations, Ronald Padua, explained that the salinity or amount of dissolved salts in Laguna Lake is currently at around 600 parts per million, higher than the 500-ppm drinking standard. Saline water flows into the lake from Manila Bay.

Padua said the company expects the high salinity levels to last for two months. “Increased rainfall, however, would help dilute the dissolved solids in the water and may lead to a shorter service interruption,” he said in a phone interview.

The problem has been felt by as many as 120,000 households in the southern part of the capital as early as mid-June, when Maynilad also apologized for the service interruptions due to the worsening quality of the raw water from the lake and rehabilitation works then being done at the Muntinlupa plant.

Meanwhile, the Muntinlupa city government has called on Maynilad to further explain what’s happening to the residents and issue more “honest” service schedules “because we are the ones serving as shock absorbers of the public’s outrage,” said public information officer Tez Navarro.

The office of Mayor Jaime Fresnedi had provided additional tankers for water rationing and approved the permit for the construction of another water treatment facility at the Victoria area, Navarro said.