Up to 18 dry hours a day under new Manila Water rationing plan

MANILA, Philippines — Areas in the east concession zone can expect from six to 18 hours without water, service provider Manila Water said.

The Ayala-led water concessionaire will implement a new water rationing schedule starting March 14, which would last throughout the summer.

Manila Water corporate communications head Jeric Sevilla said even areas currently experiencing 24 hours of water supply would experience service interruption in the new schedule.

"Para po masiguro na lahat po ay magkakaroon ng tubig at certain times of the day, ngayon po lahat ng customers ng Manila Water po magpapaskil po kami ng panibagong schedule sa aming accounts per barangay," Sevilla said in an interview with radio dzMM.

(To ensure that everyone will have water supply at certain times of the day, for all customers of Manila Water we will post a new schedule to our accounts per barangay.)

The schedule will indicate what time the affected areas will experience no water and when it will return.

"Makakaranas 'yung mga customers natin ng anywhere between six hours to 18 hours na walang tubig," Sevilla said.

(Our customers will experience no water anywhere between six hours to 18 hours.)

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This new scheme would ensure that the water service provider's reservoirs will be refilled and would also protect the integrity of their water treatment facilities, according to Sevilla.

Sevilla reiterated that this new schedule would persist througout the season as until the rains come, which are not expected for a few months as summer is just starting and the country is also experiencing El Niño.

"'Yan po ang magiging schedule araw-araw all throughout the summer hanggang sa magkaroon po tayo ng additional supply o umayos po 'yung lebel ng La Mesa Dam," Sevilla said.

(That will be the schedule every day all througout the summer until we get additional supply or the level of La Mesa Dam gets better.)

Manila Water COO Geodino Carpio earlier admitted that the predictability of water service interruption was difficult to achieve at the moment.

Carpio said that understand if there were customers got angry with them as they lost water even though their areas were not included in the initial list that would be affected by operational adjustments.

Last week, Manila Water announced that several cities in Metro Manila and areas in Rizal province would experience "low pressure to no water" supply. — Patricia Lourdes Viray