Maynilad willing to share water allocation with Manila Water

FILE: Maynilad Legarda Lift Station (Photo By Judgefloro – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA — Maynilad Water Services Inc. has committed to share 50 million liters of water per day to Manila Water after the La Mesa Dam, where the latter is getting its supply, reached critical level on Monday resulting in the series of water service interruptions in parts of Metro Manila.

“The full (allocation) would be in April at latest but it would be staggered depending on related projects that will be finished in our boundary lines,” Engineer Ronald Padua, Maynilad Water Supply Operations head, said in a press conference Tuesday.

The water sharing between the two concessionaires would be done through a “cross-border flow” arrangement, according to Padua.

In every cross-border line that would be identified, he said, around eight to 10 million liters of water per day would be allocated.

“This cross-border flow would cross different boundary points in Manila, we’re already seeing points in Quezon City,” he said.

The volume of water Maynilad agreed to share is expected to supply roughly around 50,000 households.

Maynilad, which gets its raw supply from Angat Dam and the Laguna Lake, would be sourcing the 50 million liters of water from the latter through its new water treatment facility in Muntinlupa.

While the construction of the treatment plant has not yet been finished, Padua said Maynilad would be giving five tankers of water to Manila Water’s affected consumers, in coordination with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.