ANTIPOLO CITY – A water concessionaire on Saturday assured its 2.8 million customers in Rizal that it is taking the necessary steps to ensure they get a continued supply of safe water during the rainy season.
Manila Water gave the assurance as it anticipates the downpour bringing in contaminants into its various reservoirs in the province, which would increase the water’s turbidity (murkiness), triggering health concerns over the water being supplied.
"We have prepped up all our facilities, especially our treatment plants, to ensure continued service even during typhoons,” Jeric Sevilla, director of MW’s Corporate Communications Affairs Group, said in a text message to the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Sevilla disclosed that their maintenance personnel focuses on ensuring that the Cardona Treatment Plant could continue to deliver clean water to MW’s 413,000 service connections in Rizal.
The “very crucial” plant supplies up to 110 million liters of water daily to the towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Tanay, and Jalajala, among others, according to the company spokesman.
He also disclosed that Rizal houses two of the company’s emergency reservoirs, one located at Mayamot Elementary School in Antipolo City and another at Cainta Elementary School in Barangay San Roque.
The two facilities help form a chain of eight emergency reservoirs spread across the company’s franchise area, that are “ready to provide potable water to evacuation centers and augment water supply during typhoons and other disasters,” MW said in a separate statement issued on Friday.
Storm preparations being undertaken by the company include the rolling out of generator sets and dewatering pumps to enable treatment plants to operate even if power outages or floods occur.
The company said it has also readied its “emergency fleet” composed of four mobile treatment plants, a mobile stage, a mobile command center, mobile toilets, mobile sleeping quarters, an amphibious vehicle, a tractor head, six 4x4 rescue vehicles, an ambulance, an all-terrain vehicle, a jet ski, three speed boats, and five folding boats. (PNA)
