Manila Water is not seeing any business disruption following the expansion of supply

Of Alyssa Nicole O Tan

MANILA Water Co., Inc. said it is not currently implementing plans to disrupt water supplies after a senator said the dry season should not be used as an excuse to halt services.

“Water supply for the East Zone remains normal and we are not implementing any off-peak water disruptions or rotating water,” Nestor Jeric T. Sevilla, Jr., head of Manila Water’s corporate strategic affairs group, said in a Viber message business world.

He said Manila Water can develop additional wells to meet increased demand during the dry months. These include the Cardona water treatment plant, which can produce up to 100 million liters of water per day (MLD), deep wells with a capacity of about 115 MLD, and the Marikina portable water treatment plant, which can add 20 MLD.

“We continue to maximize our distribution reservoirs, reduce our water losses to 13% and install line boosters to ensure water reaches the elevated and furthest points of our service area,” said Mr. Sevilla.

Senator Mary Grace S. Poe-Llamanzares, chair of the chamber’s Public Services Committee, said water concessionaires in the capital area should not use the dry season as an excuse to disrupt water supplies.

Jennifer C. Rufo, director of corporate communications for Maynilad Water Services, Inc., had said the water disruptions, which were due to end in April, could extend into May due to increased demand.

“We expect our water concessionaires to fulfill their obligations under their renewed concession contract and revised concession contract and to complete the projects required to have safe and reliable water at the faucets,” Ms. Poe said.

“It would be a disservice to disappoint our people in their most basic need at this time of struggling to recover from the pandemic,” she added. “Certainly complacency has no place in these successive threats.”

Ms. Rufo tells business world in a Viber message that overnight water disruptions give the company an opportunity to replenish its reservoirs in preparation for peak daytime demand.

“Therefore, we can maintain water service during the hours of the day when it’s most needed and minimize customer inconvenience,” she said, noting that service disruptions will likely last from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m , when most customers are sleeping and not consuming water.

The need to manage supplies on the grid stems from increased demand for water due to hotter days, Ms Rufo said.

“If, based on our forecasts, it appears that demand will still deplete our reservoirs without this intervention, we will extend the implementation of these off-peak daily disruptions by an additional 15 days,” she added, advising clients to be consistent to save clean water during the dry season.

Ms Rufo confirmed that Maynilad also has several measures in place to increase supply, including activation of deep wells and operation of modular treatment plants, allowing them to manage off-peak service disruptions.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which holds a majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Filipino units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in business world through the Philippine Star Group, which controls it.