Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 11) — Following the lowering of water allocation from Angat Dam for concessionaires, Maynilad announced that almost 600,000 of its customers will be experiencing service interruptions starting July 12.
But why are households in the west zone being served by Maynilad the only ones affected by this reduction in supply? Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source, company spokesperson Jen Rufo said there are three reasons.
“The pipe network of Maynilad is older,\” she explained. \”We inherited the older section of the pipe network from the government and if you recall, Maynilad came from bankruptcy.\”
“The previous owners could not invest in the pipe network and so it was only in 2007 when we were able to invest major capital expenditure project to improve the water infrastructure,” Rufo also said.
Prior to Maynilad Water Holdings Company, Inc. — a joint venture between Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), DMCI Holdings, Inc. (DMCI) and Marubeni Corporation – taking over the management in 2007, the service provider was under the consortium of Benpres Holdings Corporation and Suez Lyonnaise de Eaux.
The consortium handed over management and control to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in 2005 after it was hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the El Niño phenomenon that time.
Aside from this, Rufo also pointed out that the east zone concession area being served by Manila Water has more ground water resources, making way for the opening of more deep wells.
“Unlike in our concession area, which is near Manila Bay, so a lot of the groundwater resources here are already salty from intrusion from the sea,” she noted.
Lastly, there is also more flexibility in Manila Water than in Maynilad because the former has exclusive use of La Mesa Dam, she added.
Rufo said water interruption will be really felt by Maynilad customers with the reduction of allocation from Angat Dam from 50 cubic meters per second (cms) to 48 cms.
Still, she assured customers that this will not go beyond the announced schedule of interruption and the listed areas affected by the disruption.
Meanwhile, Manila Water spokesperson Jeric Sevilla said in another interview that the company was able to address the impact of the reduced supply by ensuring their pipes do not have leaks and eliminating illegal connections.
He said the company also worked on securing additional supply even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
