Water is running out in Metro Manila

Metro Manila will have not enough water supply by September if rains do not start to fill up the metropolis’ main reservoir, west zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. yesterday warned.

But since current supply cuts have severely affected nearly 20% of its clients, the firm said authorities would have to give it a greater share of water from Angat Dam, whose level is already at a historical low. It also wants to take water from the La Mesa dam, which is being used by east zone concessionaire Manila Water Co., and source supply from its fellow utility, among other measures.

Regulators said they still had to validate Maynilad’s claims, while a weather bureau official said Angat’s level was unlikely to stabilize soon given forecasts of below normal rainfall for this month and the next. The water level at the multipurpose Angat facility in Bulacan province, which provides some 97% of Metro Manila’s needs, hit a record low of 157.75 meters last Friday. This was despite scattered rain showers and the passage of typhoon Basyang last week, which the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewage System said on Friday raised the water level by just 0.13 meters.

A continuing drop in Angat’s level prompted the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) earlier this month to again cut allocations for Metro Manila to 32 cubic meters per second from 33. A dry spell caused by an El Niño had prompted supply cuts in the first half. Given an average drop of 10 centimeters per day, Angat’s water level could fall to around 151 meters by mid-September, Maynilad chief operating officer Herbert M. Consunji said in a press briefing yesterday.

“Now if the average [daily] drop is 15 centimeters, by September it’ll be at 140 meters and that’s almost critical,” Mr. Consunji said. “If we reach September and there are no rains, then we might be at the critical level of 120 meters [for domestic water supply}. If that happens, technically there is no more water for Metro Manila."

The critical level for all systems in Angat, this includes the Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant, is 180 meters. The facility’s spilling level is 210 meters. Its previous historical low was 158.15 meters, hit in 1998. National Water Resources Board (NWRB) executive director Vicente S. Paragas stated the agency still had to validate Maynilad’s claims. "The NWRB is yet to meet with Maynilad to discuss the water situation. We can’t confirm or deny that by September we may reach the critical level," Mr. Paragas said.

Mr. Consunji said Maynilad was harder hit by the water shortage because it services a more populated area and does not have La Mesa Dam to source water from, unlike Manila Water. Maynilad said a little over 300,000 households had been affected by supply reduction. It claimed that around 152,000 households or 1.13 million people, representing 18% of the 6.7 million people it services, had been severely affected, having no water for up to six hours daily.

Maynilad’s concession area includes the cities of Manila, Quezon, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas, and Malabon, all in Metro Manila, plus the municipalities of Bacoor, Imus, Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario in the province of Cavite. Manila, Caloocan and Quezon City have the most number of barangays severely affected by supply cuts, Mr. Consunji said.

To mitigate the disruptions, Maynilad needs to get more of the metropolis’ current water allocation, he said. "We want to stabilize the inflow of raw water. As it’s reduced, our percentage gets lower. We’re following a 60-40 [sharing] protocol right now and we are asking for a 75-25 level at least for the peak hours,” Mr. Consunji.

Manila Water officials were not immediately available for comment. Representatives said earlier in the day that the firm would be issuing a statement but none had been released as of press time. Mr. Consunji said Maynilad would “temporarily source water from Manila Water, source additional water tankers, tap public fire trucks for water tinkering, request for cloud seeding over the Angat area and the joint use of the La Mesa Dam.”

Maynilad chief financial officer Randolph T. Estrellado said the company had also reduced its overall growth target to 10% from 18%. “There is an initial impact of El Niño on our growth. We reduced it to 10% for the whole year. The issue now is if we can still sustain that forecast. At this point I guess what I can say is given the situation, if it does not worsen by August and September we can still maintain that target,” Mr. Estrellado said.

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services chief Prisco Nilo, meanwhile, told BusinessWorld there may not be enough rains to raise Angat to a comfortable level by September. “Our forecasting tools showed that by September there would be substantial rains but it may not be sufficient to stabilize the Angat Dam. For this month and August we also expect rains to be below normal,” Mr. Nilo said in a telephone interview.