Regulators have said the water allocation for Metro Manila will stay lower than normal to prevent a repeat of last summer’s supply shortage that brought misery to more than a million households.
Authorities cannot increase the water allocation for houses to the normal 46 cubic meters per second from the current 40 m³/s because Angat Dam, Metro Manila’s main water source, was still below its normal operating level, according to National Water Resources Board executive director Sevillo David Jr.
The allocation for agriculture, meanwhile, will stay at about half of the normal 40 m³/s, he added.
David told dzMM, in a report beamed nationwide, said: “Since January, we have been conserving the supply so it will be enough for the next months and we won’t experience a repeat of the severe water shortage last year.”
The water shortage last summer affected some 1.2 million households in the east zone of Metro Manila, serviced by Ayala-led Manila Water.
The concessionaire attributed the problem to increased demand, lack of rains, delays in infrastructure projects supposed to boost supply, and the declining level of the La Mesa Dam, its emergency resource.