MWSS lays out plan to solve water shortage

The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which admitted that it was unable to release 150 days worth of water supply from the Angat Dam as per President Rodrigo Duterte's instruction, outlined other measures which they claimed would address the water shortage affecting Manila and Rizal.

In a statement released Friday evening, the MWSS said they met with officials of Manila Water and Maynilad, even as MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco presented to the Board of Trustees the long and short-term measures developed to address the water shortage.

The plan, according to the MWSS, included:

• allowing Manila Water to activate 101 deep wells which can supply consumers 101 million liters per day (MLD). The National Water Resources Board had approved this move and Manila Water has begun activating these deep wells;
• Maynilad was asked to allocate 50 MLD and share water through cross border flow to initially provide additional 20 MLD to Manila Water’s supply this March, and the full 50 MLD by April;
• Manila Water was directed to activate its Cardona, Rizal treatment plant in order to provide an additional 100 MLD to its customers. Manila Water president Ferdinand Dela Cruz announced Friday that the plant was energized, with an inital 24 MLD expected to be fully operational, with 50 MLD available by the end of March;
• 48 water tankers would deliver water to hardest-hit areas, with LGUs helping in the delivery thru its own tankers;
• Maynilad would provide an additional 10 MLD of raw water allocation from the portal;
• San Miguel Corporation’s Bulacan Bulk Water, in coordination with MWSS and LGUs, would provide potable water to affected communities via delivery trucks using untapped 140 MLD; and
• Manila Water continuing to implement water interruptions in several areas in Metro Manila and Rizal to ensure that the water supply would last until June or the rainy season.

The MWSS attributed the East Zone concessionaire's shortfall of 150 MLD from its allocation of 1,600 MLD from Angat Dam to an increase in population and demand from consumers.

150 days

Earlier on Friday, Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President had ordered the MWSS to  to release 150 days worth of water supply from Angat Dam.

However, Velasco told GMA News Online that there was no such supply and that the president needed to be so informed.

“We wish to assure the President that MWSS is doing its best to solve the water shortage problem," Velasco said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the MWSS had tasked Manila Water to provide a definitive timeline for solving the water utility's distribution and operations problems, while at the same time insisting that short-term and long-term solutions for Metro Manila’s water supply demands were "in place and on pace."

In the same statement, Velasco clarified that the so-called “bypass” being discussed in a viral post involving MWSS Chief Regulator Patrick Ty has been "open all along."

He explained that the bypass was " opened regularly, particularly because the La Mesa dam level is low" and that "most if not all of Manila Water's 1600 MLD now probably goes through the bypass." — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News