West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. targets to suspend this week the current service interruptions in its franchise area after the approval of additional water allocation for Metro Manila from the Angat dam.
Last week, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) approved the allocation of 52 cubic meters per second (CMS) to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for April 16 to 30.
“This higher allocation will definitely improve the volume of water reaching the portal, allowing Maynilad to increase its production and improve the levels of Ipo and La Mesa (dam). Since yesterday (April 16), we have been monitoring the releases and it has been stabilizing at 52 CMS, we’re also monitoring the La Mesa portal, which will be the basis of our 60-40 sharing with Manila Water,” said Ramoncito Fernandez, Maynilad president and chief executive officer, in a briefing in Quezon City yesterday.
Fernandez said once the volume of water release stabilizes, Maynilad can suspend service interruptions that were experienced since the end of March due to the lower water supply availability.
Leonor Cleofas, MWSS administrator, said in the same briefing the 52 CMS allocation can be extended up to next month.
Meanwhile, Maynilad said production at its Putatan water treatment plants (PWTP) 1 and 2 in Muntinlupa has improved as Laguna Lake’s water turbidity has settled down.
Fernandez said from 240 million liters per day (MLD), the company is now maintaining its production between 270 and 280 MLD which resulted in shorter water interruptions from 19 hours to 10 hours in the PWTP zone, particularly in Cavite.
Maynilad said even before the pandemic, Cavite has been its most challenging service area as it is the farthest in its network in the south.
Maynilad said this is being resolved with modular treatment plants that will utilize water from rivers in the region and the reactivating of deep wells, among others.
The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System-Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) is monitoring the current situation if it warrants penalties and rebates.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation and we are going to make sure that Maynilad will adhere to its (interruption) schedule and to determine if there’s any need to (slap penalties),” said Patrick Ty, MWSS-RO chief regulator. -Jed Macapagal
