MANILA – The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Wednesday bared measures that would address the on-going water shortage in some parts of Metro Manila, particularly those being serviced by the Manila Water Company.
MWSS administrator Reynaldo Velasco, in a press conference held at the Makati Diamond Residences, said to address the present water shortage, the MWSS has allocated at least 200 million liters per day (MLD) to be provided for the east zone concessionaire Manila Water to augment its lack of supply caused by El Niño dry spell, coupled with an increase in demand due to population growth.
Velasco said the MWSS has also requested the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), through its Executive Director Virgilio David, to allow Manila Water to activate deep wells which can supply 100 MLD to its consumers.
“MWSS (also) requested Maynilad to allocate 50 MLD and share water through cross border flow to ease the problem and augment the water supply needs of Manila Water, including the deployment of water trucks to affected areas that will service or benefit 50,000 households in Quezon City, Paranaque and Taguig,” he said.
Velasco said he has also directed Manila Water to activate and operationalize its Cardona, Rizal treatment plant which ceased operations in October 2018, but can potentially provide an additional 100 MLD.
“We are happy that by end of March, at least 50 MLD will be available from the Cardona Treatment Plant,” he said.
Admittedly, Velasco said, water concessionaires are on catch up mode as far as water supply source is concerned “since our main source which is the Angat Dam that supplies 96 percent of water to Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal was built in 1967 and no major water source has been built since then except for some water supply projects from Laguna Lake by both Maynilad and Manila Water.”
“It’s only over the last two years under the Duterte administration that serious efforts have been put in place to push for major water flagship projects such as the 600 MLD Kaliwa Dam, the 500 MLD from Wawa Dam, the 800 MLD to be sourced from unutilized water from Angat-Norzagaray, the 350 MLD from Bayabas Dam, as well as 500 MLD from Laguna Lake,” he said.
MWSS is also studying a proposal to construct a new treatment plant so as to preserve La Mesa Dam as a water reserve area for the future, which will include a much-needed repair job of conveyance pipes.
With these measures, Velasco said, it is now up to Manila Water to figure out how to fully operationalize additional water supply to ease the burden of consumers.
Meanwhile, Velasco said they are pushing for major water supply projects that will secure present and future needs of Metro Manila and the serviced provinces.
On Kaliwa Dam, he said MWSS is calling on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to fast-track the approval of the environment compliance certificate (ECC) so as to commence the construction of the 600 MLD water project targeted for completion in 2023.
“The initial agreement on the water allocation once Kaliwa Dam is completed is 350 MLD for Manila Water and 250 for Maynilad. This is one project started since the time of President Ferdinand Marcos and it’s only after 30 years that we are finally implementing it under the Duterte administration,” he said.
Velasco said the present low water level at La Mesa precipitated by El Niño poses big challenge to the government to produce water immediately needed.
As such, he urged Manila Water and the proponent of the Wawa water source development Prime Infra to immediately finalize their cooperative agreement that could produce additional 500 MLD for East side consumers of Metro Manila.
“I wish to assure the public that there will be enough and sufficient water to supply the future needs of the 20 million residents in (the) metropolis and nearby provinces serviced by its these concessionaires in the next 10 to 15 years,” he said. (PNA)
