Maynilad sets water service rotation

MANILA, Philippines - Residents in the west zone of Metro Manila should start saving gallons of water.

Shortened water supply schedules in the west zone would be implemented starting Sept. 16, affecting 900 barangays making up 56 percent of the concession area, Maynilad Water Services Inc. announced yesterday.

Affected cities in the metropolis are Manila (certain areas), Quezon City (certain areas), Makati (certain areas), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon.

In Cavite province, affected areas are the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus as well as the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario. 

In the first week of shortened water supply implementation, Maynilad would limit the water supply interruption to non-peak hours of 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. At full implementation, the rotating water interruption is expected to be as long as 12 hours.

“This off-peak schedule will be gradually extended until, at full implementation, we will adopt the different supply interruption schedules for each area,” Maynilad’s water supply operations manager Ronaldo Padua explained.

In preparation for the full implementation of the rotating service interruption, Maynilad is acquiring additional water tankers and refurbishing its stationary water tanks to serve those areas that are expected to have less than 12 hours of water supply.

Maynilad did not implement the rotating water interruption schedule this week as recent rains have increased the water elevation level in the Ipo Dam that augments the water supply from the Angat Dam from which Metro Manila obtains more than 90 percent of its water supply.

But Padua said the increased water elevation at Ipo Dam is not enough to sustain Manynilad’s pre-El Niño water production level.

“The Ipo Dam is only a diversion control dam and has a small capacity – 5.9 million cubic meters versus Angat Dam’s 850 mcm. So it is barely enough to meet Metro Manila’s water requirements for two days,” he explained.

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) has further reduced the water allocation from Angat Dam in Bulacan to Metro Manila because of the prevailing dry spell that is expected to peak in the last quarter of the year and last until the first semester of 2016.

The NWRB has approved for municipal use a reduced allocation of 38 cubic meters per second for this month, lower than the allocation of 41 cubic meters per second implemented in July and August.

The NWRB would also continue to impose zero allocation for irrigation until a secure water level in the Angat Dam is reached.