Recent rains not enough to refill dams: Manila Water

May 9, 2019

Sporadic rains for the past few days as a result of thunderstorms are still not enough to refill the dams, especially Angat and La Mesa dams.

Jeric Sevilla, Manila Water group head for Corporate Strategic Affairs, on Thursday warns the situation may get worse before it gets better.

“We welcome the rains that has been pouring over Metro Manila these past few days. But we cannot rest easy with it. Firstly, the rains are still not sufficient to refill La Mesa Dam to its normal operating level of 78 to 79 meters,'' he said.

''While the heavy rains last night added 10 centimeters to the level of La Mesa Dam, the level of 68.55 meters, as of 5:00 am, May 8, is still way below the critical level of 69 meters,'' he said..

''We still need a lot more and continuous days of that much rain for us to refill La Mesa. Secondly, even if we are able to refill La Mesa and we begin to draw water from it again to augment the still-deficient water supply, it is certain that we will encounter water quality issues,” Sevilla adds.

He explains that since La Mesa is coming from sub-critical levels, earth that have been previously submerged has since been exposed and may turn to mud when watered by rains raising the level of the raw water's turbidity.

“We need to prepare for this eventuality because it takes time for water to return to normal turbidity levels,” Sevilla explained.

Sevilla assures customers that should these occur Manila Water will continue to ensure that the water they distribute passes the stringent Philippine National Standard for Drinking Water, as set by the Department of Health (DOH).

Manila Water continues to make progress on its service recovery efforts. As of May 8, the company has achieved 98 percent water availability of at least 8 hours at 7 psi, or at ground floor level.

It has also reached 72 percent 24-hour water availability at 7 psi.

Manila Water said it continues to work on various distribution solutions to address pocket areas of less than eight hours of supply.

Cardona Water Treatment Plant has been producing 50 million liters per day (MLD) and deep wells have augmented the Angat water supply with production of 30 MLD. Cross-border flows are at 16 MLD. DMS