San Miguel mulls to use untapped dam allocation to ease Metro water crisis

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. on Friday said it is looking at utilizing its untapped water allocation from the Angat Dam in a bid to help address the water supply shortage experienced in the East zone of Metro Manila and Rizal.

In a statement, San Miguel said it hopes to be able to deliver 140 million liters of clean, treated water to areas affected by the shortage in coordination with, and approval by, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) through its Bulacan Bulk Water Treatment Plant.

“This situation is unfortunate and dire for many of our countrymen who do not have access to basic water. Many are affected: Households, hospitals, schools, businesses. Right now, the best thing we can do is to pull together and help each other," San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon Ang said.

In January, San Miguel said it started operations of the first phase of its Bulacan Bulk Water Project.

Once fully completed, the company is mandated to supply water to 24 Bulacan water districts at P8.50 per cubic meter, the lowest bulk water charge anywhere in the country.

Ang said that Phase 1 of the project has a production capacity of 200 million liters per day.

However, as many water districts have yet to upgrade and prepare their facilities to receive water from the Bulacan plant, only about 60 million liters per day are currently being utilized.

“This leaves an excess capacity of about 140 million liters per day, which is enough to serve the average daily requirements of two million people or about 455,000 households," Ang said.

"As a quick response to the situation of customers of Manila Water, we will coordinate with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and local government units to secure permits to place water refilling stations in affected areas,” he said.

Areas affected by the shortage include all barangays of Mandaluyong, five barangays in San Juan, seven in Pasig in Metro Manila; three in Angono, 10 in Antipolo, three in Taytay, and 12 in Binangonan in Rizal province.

San Miguel's plan to utilize 140 million liters to help ease the water shortage will require an estimated 14,000 truck trips per day using 10-kiloliter tankers, or 7,000 trips per day using 20-kiloliter tankers.

“For this, we need to acquire several container trucks to deliver water. Again, we will work and coordinate with the MWSS and LGUs on this. We hope to be able to implement this plan at the soonest possible time,” Ang said.

“However, in order to fully utilize the capacity, it will be necessary for us to open the Bulacan Bulk Water facility to allow 3rd party suppliers to source potable water and assist in delivering water to affected communities. This will require clearance from MWSS as concession grantor. We will also need to coordinate with the LGUs for the organization and management of water filling stations,” he added.

If approved, the quick-response plan can be implemented for the next four months until the end of the El Niño episode.

The company also expressed its willingness to help find a long-term solution to the water problem, and contributing to government’s efforts to develop new water sources to prevent a similar crisis from happening again. — BAP, GMA News