No water crisis yet, but conservation urged

MANILA, Philippines –  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday appealed to the public to start conserving water “in the face of a limited water supply” even as it disclosed that there is no water crisis yet in the metropolis.

At the same time, water allocation of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will be reduced starting this month in preparation for a possible drought.

DENR Acting Secretary
Eleazar Quinto said a water crisis could still be averted if the people, especially residents of Metro Manila, would immediately work together in conserving water.

“The water situation in the metropolis is getting very tight with the onset of the El Niño phenomenon,” Quinto said.  “Water in Metro Manila will be very tight, especially during the summer season.”

“But a shortage can be averted if we all work together, if we start conserving water now,” Quinto also said.

National Water Resources Board (NWRB) officer-in-charge Nathaniel Santos earlier said that water elevation in Angat Dam was already at 200.74 meters, or 4.43 meters below normal level, due to the low inflow of water coming from the Angat and Umiray Rivers.

Despite this, however, Santos said that the dam’s water supply is still manageable to meet the domestic requirements of Metro Manila’s 15 million population and the irrigation needs of the 27,000-hectare farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga until the El Niño episode runs its course by July.

Angat Dam supplies 97 percent of the water in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Even the Magat Dam in Isabela has also gone down to an all-time low because of the early onset of the El Niño phenomenon.

Fish growers in Isabela fear that if the dry spell continues until next month, ponds will dry up, leaving them without livelihood.

Magat Dam engineer Saturnino Tenedor said the water level of the dam has fallen to a critical level of 174.12 meters from 180 meters last month, the lowest recorded in the dam’s 40-year history.

The low water level, Tenedor said, is the result of the dry spell that has been felt in various parts of the country since the last quarter of 2009.

“Based on our study by simulating the worst scenario of water crisis the country experienced in 1998, which was the time when the government resorted to water rationing in Metro Manila, the current 201-meter water level registered at the Angat Dam is still sufficient to supply the needs of the households in Metro Manila and farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga,” Quinto said.

“But there is a need to rationalize the water allocation of the MWSS and the NIA in order to ensure that the limited water supply will last until the next rainy season,” he also explained.

The NWRB, an attached agency of the DENR, is in charge of allocating the water in Angat Dam, which is being managed by the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Meanwhile, the MWSS takes charge of water distribution in Metro Manila through its two water concessionaires, Manila Water and Maynilad, while the NIA oversees management of water for irrigation of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga. –-Katherine Adraneda (The Philippine Star) with Marianne Go