MWSS: Angat Dam water supply good until December

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) yesterday assured the public of enough water supply from Angat Dam until December even as concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. started implementing daily rotational water interruption.

In an interview with The STAR, MWSS Deputy Administrator Jose Dorado Jr. said the water interruption was not due to the shortage in water supply from the Angat Dam.

Based on latest monitoring of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, the level of Angat Dam was at 202.84 meters, slightly lower than its level of 203.29 meters on Tuesday.

“The water interruption of Maynilad is within their system. When we say within their system, the water from Angat Dam flows to Ipo Dam, until it reaches the La Mesa portal. Once the water reaches the La Mesa portal, Maynilad and Manila Water divide the allocation,” Dorado said.

He added that the water allocation for Manila Water goes to the Balara Treatment Plant and La Mesa Reservoir, while the share of Maynilad goes to the La Mesa Treatment Plants 1 and 2.

“What happens is that the water that reaches the reservoir of Maynilad is less than the requirement. The MWSS provides all the requirements to the two concessionaires. The supply from MWSS is sufficient but the problem is the system of distribution of Maynilad,” Dorado explained.

He said that MWSS presided over a top-level meeting with Maynilad and Manila Water to address the ongoing rotational water interruption.

“We held a top-level meeting this morning and Manila Water said it is willing to assist Maynilad address its water requirement to prevent the water interruption,” Dorado added.

According to Dorado, the water concessionaires also urged MWSS to write to the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to increase the water allocation for Maynilad and Manila Water.

“The concessionaires asked the MWSS to write to NWRB to increase the allocation of MWSS two cms (centimeter per second), so if the two cms will be granted, Maynilad will be able to refill its dams, the Ipo, La Mesa and after the refilling, the distribution will again normalize,” he said.

Dorado said for March, NWRB allocated a total of 50 cms of water to the MWSS.

“It will allow Maynilad to reach the desirable level of its dams. We will then observe if the system of Maynilad improves,” he noted. — Danessa Rivera