Metro residents brace for long, ‘dry’ spell

MANILA, Philippines–For residents in areas affected by a three-day water service interruption due to an ongoing Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) project, it will be a long and dry Holy Week.

In Manila, homeowners have been filling up water containers and thinking of ways to conserve their meager reserves.

“As much as possible, only one pail of water per person for taking a bath. We’ll put off the washing of clothes until the water supply comes back,” Joeylyn Santiago from Barangay 33 in Tondo told the Inquirer.

Jun Castro from Barangay 659 in Malate said he had stored away four drums of water with the option of taking his family to the mall to stretch their limited supply.

“We’ll pass time at the mall, maybe watch a movie. The stored water will be used whenever we need to use the toilet at home,” he explained.

“It’s really inconvenient,” Santiago said. “But we have no choice. Some of us are thinking of going to the province where there’s water but most of us have to stay in our house.”

Maynilad Water Services Inc. earlier announced that parts of Metro Manila and Cavite province would go without water for three days anytime between Holy Wednesday and Black Saturday due to a DPWH flood control project.

Among the affected areas were Barangay 275 in San Nicolas and several barangays in Tondo, Manila, which was expected to dry starting Wednesday. A number of barangays in Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area and Sta. Ana will also experience a two-day service interruption starting at 1 p.m. today.

Santiago’s household had filled up the water tank and every pail in the house in addition to several bottles. “We stored up on water the other day because it will be a long three days,” she said.

Best to be prepared

Even subdivisions in the southern part of Metro Manila were not spared by the water service interruption although the residents had taken steps to prepare for it.

At BF Homes-Las Piñas in Barangay Almanza Dos, some households have been filling their tanks or drums with water in the past few days.

“Since last week, we have been advising homeowners to stock up on water. There are homeowners like us who still have overhead tanks. It can hold up to 10 drums worth of water and can be filled up overnight,”  Mario Vitales of the BF Homes Almanza Dos homeowners’ association told the Inquirer.

Vitales said the association had also started sending out Maynilad updates via text messages to homeowners. There are 843 households in the subdivision.

But come Wednesday, some homeowners were still caught unprepared. “Some homeowners have already been calling us, requesting for water. My sibling called me up a while ago to tell me their two tanks of water had been used up,” Vitales narrated.

He said all the association could do for now was give out the phone numbers of companies offering water delivery.

For this reason, Vitales reminded the homeowners to use their reserves sparingly. “You can’t restock water in the next few days so prioritize its use, maybe just for baths for now. The laundry can be done later,” he said.

Ricardo Ramos, a resident of Tahanan Village in another affected area, Barangay BF Homes in neighboring Parañaque City, said his household has been setting aside pails of water although unscheduled service interruptions on Monday and Tuesday evening were somehow thwarting their efforts.

Ramos noted that the lack of water was nothing new to them. “Maynilad started supplying us with water only around 2011 so before that, we had our own water tanks,” he  said. “I don’t think Maynilad would worry much about us. They’ll probably deploy their tankers to depressed areas.”

“It’s tempting to just go on vacation since there’s no water here though we want to avoid  traffic as well,” he added.

In Pasay City, government officials and residents said they had done all they could to prepare for the lack of water.

Cecil Onez, a businesswoman residing in Barangay 90 on Taft Avenue in Pasay City, said that since last night, she and members of her household had been filling up water drums and containers.

No complaints

“We have no complaints, actually. It’s just three days and we had been notified in advance to prepare,” Onez told the Inquirer. She said the water supply in their area was expected to be cut off at midnight Wednesday.

She added that her neighbors were likely doing the same thing even if the city government had promised to distribute water to residents by deploying at least 22 fire trucks to affected areas. With Niña P. Calleja and Erika  Sauler