More than half a million customers of Maynilad should prepare for a possible nine-hour service interruption next week as the government anticipates Angat Dam’s water level to fall below its minimum operating level of 180 meters.
“The elevation of Angat will reach 180 meters (Saturday). However, we are projecting that there will be no interruption tomorrow, except for the regular maintenance activities,” MWSS Angat/Ipo Operations Management Division head Patrick James Dizon said in a message to GMA News.
“For Maynilad, the expected interruption will be on Wednesday (July 12), the earliest, but if there are rains, the start of interruption could be by Friday (July 14)… The number of hours of interruption – 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. (nine hours)… that is lesser than the 14 to 16 hours interruption in April 2023,” Dizon said.
The water interruptions will affect at least 591,000 households, or over a third of the 1.5 million affected households in April, Dizon said.
“Manila Water will not be affected by the reduction of allocation,” he added.
Angat Dam supplies over 90% of Metro Manila’s potable water requirements.
Its falling water level – at 180.45 meters yesterday – will trigger a reduction in the water allocation for the concessionaires of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.
The National Water Resources Board on Thursday said it will further reduce the water allocation for MWSS to 48 cubic meters per second (cms) from 50 cms should the water level at Angat Dam fall below 180 meters.
Maynilad said it will hold a press briefing on Monday to disclose specific details on the impact of the lower water allocation.
Meanwhile, the newly created Water Resources Management Office under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has released the guidelines for water conservation measures to be observed by all government offices pursuant to Memorandum Circular No. 22 issued by Malacañang in June.
The President earlier directed the WRMO to monitor the progress of all agencies toward conserving water through the analysis of their monthly water bills, with the aim of reducing their consumption by 10 percent.
In its Bulletin No. 1, WRMO reminded all government agencies to ensure they have separate water meters and to regularly check if these are functioning properly.
Harvested rainwater, if possible, should be used instead of potable water to clean premises or water plants.
The WRMO also recommended the shutdown of main building valves from 7 p.m., or after employees have completely left the office, until 6 a.m. the next day.
“As a guide, each employee must not consume more than 50 liters of water per day in office buildings (also consider the number of visitors for frontline agencies) and not more than 180 liters per day in households/condominiums and 24/7 offices.
The National Irrigation Administration, for its part, said they are ready to implement the alternate wetting and drying system, which uses up to 30 percent less water than the usual irrigation method, amid tight water supply due to the El Nino phenomenon.
NIA acting administrator Eduardo Guillen said the water supply for irrigation may not be enough.
“In our worst case scenarios, let’s say farmers are unable to plant, the Department of Labor has a cash-for-work program to help them,” he said.
PAGASA earlier this week officially declared the onset of El Niño because of warmer temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.
The state weather bureau earlier warned some 36 provinces may experience a dry spell while at least two provinces may suffer from drought.
On Tuesday, the United Nations warned the world to prepare for the effects of El Nino, saying the weather phenomenon which triggers higher global temperatures is set to persist throughout 2023.
El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere.
The phenomenon occurs on average every two to seven years, and episodes typically last nine to 12 months.
