Water supply interruptions in Metro Manila are feared to continue until the dry season of 2020 as Angat Dam may no longer reach its end-of-year normal high water level of 212 meters.
The water level of Angat Dam continues to gradually increase due to some rains since the start of December, but its current level remains below the 212-meter target by year-end.
The latest monitoring of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration showed that Angat Dam’s water level was slightly up from 197.22 meters the other day to 197.49 meters yesterday.
“Based on the projections, (Angat Dam’s target level) might not be attained this year. That is the reason of reduced allocation to manage supply in the dam,” National Water Resources Board Exceutive Director Sevillo David Jr. said.
Reaching the desired level of Angat Dam will ensure the availability of sufficient water for domestic and irrigation uses until the dry season of 2020. Dry season in the Philippines is usually from December to May.
NWRB will likely to continue the allocation of 40 cubic meters per second or 3,450 million liters per day of raw water to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System for distribution to water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water in January 2020, David said. This is still lower than the normal allocation for domestic use of 46-48 cms.
“This can change if there will be significant increase in the level of Angat Dam this month,” he added. (Ellalyn Ruiz)
