Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Manila Water canceled its scheduled service interruption on Thursday next week (September 10), as rainfall over Ipo and La Mesa dams helped increase water level at the reservoirs.
The company, which provides water and wastewater services to the east zone of Metro Manila, earlier announced that it would limit supply from six to 17 hours in areas it services in Metro Manila and Rizal.
Related: Maynilad, Manila Water to inform households when they will lose water supply
West zone concessionaire Maynilad also made a similar announcement.
The two companies have not issued a schedule of the service interruptions, but said that households would be informed beforehand to allow them enough time to store water.
The move to cut water supply was in preparation for a severe El Niño, which is expected to last until June next year.
Related: Will El Niño 2015 rival the strongest year on record?
Concerns on the effect of radically reduced rainfall to Angat Dam prompted the two concessionaires and the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to reduce the water allocation for Metro Manila and adjacent provinces from 41 cubic meters per second (cms) in August to 38 cms this month.
The Angat reservoir supplies 97 percent of water needs of Metro Manila and adjacent provinces.
Several barangays serviced by Manila Water consumers in the following areas will be affected:
Quezon City
Taguig
Pasig
Marikina
Antipolo City, Rizal
Rodriguez, Rizal
As for Maynilad, it listed that the following barangays would experience water interruptions:
More than a million households affected
More than a million households in Metro Manila and nearby provinces will bear the brunt of the planned cut in supply.
This number could still increase as dwindling water supply could further reduce allocation to 34 cms — translating to 1.4 million households or 8.3 million individuals.
But the NWRB said there were plans to minimize the effects of El Niño. Among the measures are cloud seeding and the activation of deep wells.
Talks are also underway with airport authorities to use deep well water in cleaning runways and airplanes.
CNN Philippines’ Kristine de Guzman contributed to this report.
