Maynilad to customers: Expect water interruption due to floods

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of west zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. should brace for continued service interruptions as water supply recovery in several parts of Metro Manila remains indefinite.

In an advisory, Maynilad said some customers in the west zone would experience low pressure to no water supply after it reduced water production at the La Mesa treatment plant due to increased turbidity level at Ipo Dam.

The water company cannot provide a specific date when water supply would normalize.

“We cannot bring water production back to normal until turbidity level in the raw water from Ipo Dam goes down to more manageable levels,” Maynilad spokesperson Jennifer Rufo said.

Affected areas include several barangays in Bulacan, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Quezon City, Manila, Pasay, Makati, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Cavite.

The areas that may be affected, as well as the duration of the service interruptions per area, will vary on a daily basis, depending on the level of turbidity in the raw water coming from Ipo Dam.

All Maynilad customers in these areas are advised to store water when supply is available.

In the meantime, Maynilad is deploying mobile water tankers to deliver potable water to some areas.

The increase in the turbidity of raw water coming from Ipo Dam was due to the heavy rains over the weekend as a result of the southwest monsoon.

Turbidity level refers to the sediment content in the dam’s water and owing to the continuous rains brought on by the monsoon, turbidity level increased as soil eroded from the Ipo watershed area into the dam.

Maynilad had to reduce the production in La Mesa in order to remove increased sediments from the raw water during treatment before release of potable water to the distribution system.

“Our water production will be maintained at reduced levels because rains over the Ipo watershed continue to stir up sediments in the raw water of Ipo Dam,” Rufo said.

“In our efforts to optimize the limited supply, we are constrained to implement service interruptions daily, until such time as the turbidity situation improves,” she added.

Maynilad warned customers to expect some discoloration in the water supply following the resumption of service.

East zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc. also advised for a water service interruption starting Thursday at 7 p.m. to Friday at 9 a.m. due to its pipelaying and interconnection activity which was postponed due to bad weather.

The maintenance activity along EDSA Southbound service road near Shaw Blvd. will result in temporary water service interruption affecting around 466,000 people in 93,237 households, commercial and business establishments in 33 barangays in Mandaluyong, San Juan, Pasig and Quezon City.

As for the traffic scheme around the worksite, the rightmost southbound lane of the EDSA service road is currently closed to traffic.

Vehicles turning right to Shaw Blvd. from EDSA can temporarily pass through Star Mall.

Sta. Mesa-bound vehicles passing along Shaw Blvd. crossing EDSA will take the middle lane as the rightmost lane will be closed to traffic during the activity.