Palace: Gov’t to look into Metro Manila water service interruption

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang assured on Monday that the government would act on the ongoing water service interruptions in some cities of Metro Manila and parts of Rizal amid the La Mesa Dam’s declining water level.

“We’re always concerned with respect to any problem affecting the welfare of the people…We will respond to that,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Thousands of households in Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City, Taguig, Mandaluyong and San Juan and several towns in Rizal province have been experiencing limited to no water supply since Thursday after Manila Water cut its services without a prior advisory.

The water concessionaire had blamed the declining water level of the La Mesa Dam and the onset of El Niño for the supply reduction schemes.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), as of Monday morning, La Mesa Dam’s water level was at 68.93 meters, breaching the 69-meter critical low level.

READ: La Mesa Dam water breaks critical level

Panelo said that employing cloud seeding operations to instigate rain will be a “possibility” to address the water crisis.

Cloud seeding is a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation, which alters the microphysical processes within the cloud.

The Palace official added that the government would also look into measures to help improve information dissemination to prepare the public ahead of the service interruptions. /je