MANILA – The Manila Water Company on Monday assured its 7.4 million customers in Metro Manila and Rizal province of sustained 24/7 water service throughout the Holy Week.
“In conjunction with the rollout of the PHP181-billion Service Improvement Plan being implemented this year until 2027, the water company is simultaneously executing contingency and augmentation projects to secure uninterrupted water service to its growing customer base,” Manila Water said in a statement.
“In the months leading to summer, Manila Water has implemented measures to anticipate the spike in demand for water from customers. As an alternative source to Angat Dam, the company’s Cardona Treatment Plant in Rizal, which draws water from Laguna Lake, is currently maximizing its operations to accommodate treatment of up to 110 million liters per day (MLD) supplying clean and potable water to several towns in Rizal,” it added.
The water firm also tapped other auxiliary sources such as the Marikina River through the 15 to 20-MLD Marikina Water Portable Treatment Plant and the 20-MLD Wawa-Calawis Water Supply System in Antipolo City.
In Laguna Lake, the East Bay Water Supply System Project Phase 1 is expected to contribute 50 MLD for the towns of Baras, Binangonan, Cardona, Jalajala, and Morong in Rizal.
In January this year, the water firm inaugurated the Novaliches-Balara Aqueduct 4 in Quezon City which will convey 1,000 MLD from the La Mesa reservoir. This will allow for the rehabilitation of the three existing aqueducts which may already be incurring raw water losses.
A backwash recovery program in the two water treatment plants in Balara, Quezon City is being implemented.
The process, which involves re-treating the water treatment byproduct, resulted to the plants treating an average of 24.7 MLD. This is a 13-MLD increase from 11.6 MLD in 2022.
Deep wells are also ready to provide additional sources when needed. A maximum of 100 MLD from deep wells can be drawn from more than 50 deep wells already rehabilitated and constructed at various sites within the concession areas.
In preparation for the dry months and a projected El Niño, regular maintenance of mainlines and rehabilitation of aging primary lines were also ramped up to minimize water lost to leakages.
While carrying out pipe repair and maintenance activities, the water firm ensured work efficiency to minimize disruption to their customers’ daily activities.
The repairs are normally done from late evenings to the wee hours of the morning.
In contrast, Maynilad Water Services has been implementing daily water interruption since the third week of March, some for as long as 15 hours.
Affected areas are parts of Cavite province and National Capital Region cities Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Parañaque, Pasay, and Valenzuela.
Maynilad cannot determine yet when the interruptions will end.
Last year, daily service interruption was implemented March to November. (PNA)
