News update Maynilad to implement rotating water supply until July 23

Customers of Maynilad Water Services Inc. will experience disruptions in their water supply starting Friday due to low water levels from the Angat Dam, the water distributor said. Maynilad said in a statement on Friday that it will implement rotating water schedules in eleven cities in Metro Manila and the nearby province of Cavite until July 23 due to a 30-percent cut in the water supply it has been receiving from the Angat Dam. (See complete schedule here)

“Since February this year, our water allocation from Angat Dam has been steadily reduced because of El Niño… For the month of July, our allocation has been cut by 30 percent and as a result, around 46 percent of our customer base have experienced reduced water pressure," the water distributor said in its release. A total of 45 barangays in Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Valenzuela, Las Pinas and Navotas have been “severely affected" by the water reduction, it added.

Maynilad said the scheduled water disruptions are only to “mitigate" the effects of the water supply reduction, and assured its consumers that it is addressing the problem. The water distributor has also hired additional private water tankers to provide free water supply, it said in its release. The water level in Angat Dam, where Metro Manila gets most of its water supply, has been receding in the past weeks due to insufficient rainfall.

Aside from providing water to Metro Manila, Angat Dam’s multipurpose reservoir in Norzagaray, Bulacan also irrigates 27,000 hectares of farmland planted to rice in the said province.—Andreo C. Calonzo