La Mesa Dam water level hits five-year low

MANILA, Philippines — Customers of Manila Water Co. Inc. should brace for service interruptions in the coming days after supply at La Mesa Dam in Quezon City dropped to a critical level amid high demand.

Water level at La Mesa Dam has hit a five-year low at 72.51 meters, way below the maintaining level of 78 to 79 meters.

“This is largely because the supply that we are getting from Angat Dam (in Bulacan) is also low compared to the increasing demand right now. La Mesa is supposed to be our buffer but since we need more, we are already getting our supply there,” Manila Water spokesperson Jeric Sevilla told The STAR.

“We have greater demand compared to recent years. There are more construction, plus it is also the peak of summer season. And we do not have the rain yet that would be enough to raise the level of the dam,” he added.

Water interruptions may initially affect the East La Mesa treatment plant, which covers consumers from the elevated portions of Marikina, Rodriguez and San Mateo in Rizal or an estimated 16,000 households.

Once water level hits 69 meters, interruptions may happen at certain times of the day. Reduced pressure is being done late at night until midnight.

“Since last week, we have been adjusting our supply. Since we still want to provide 24/7, we decided to just reduce the pressure,” Sevilla said.

Sevilla added that this is expected to continue in the next days, and worse, for the rest of the month as the state weather bureau has yet to announce the start of the rainy season.

“The only way to refill the dam is through rainfall. In the meantime, we are doing contingency measures like supply adjustment even if it means pressure reduction. We are also readying our deep wells,” he said.

Even if La Mesa Dam is Manila Water’s reservoir, customers of west zone concessionaire Maynilad Services Inc. might also be affected in the succeeding days.

“Since both concessionaires get their raw water from the Angat and Ipo dams, and Manila Water’s drawdown from Ipo Dam increases because of the critical level of its La Mesa Dam, then Maynilad is affected,” Maynilad corporate communications head Jennifer Rufo said.

“In Maynilad’s case, since we are not getting our proper raw water allocation, we cannot fill up our Bagbag reservoir (in Quezon City) to the desired level. Hence, we have been implementing off-peak low water pressure to no water supply schedules in some areas,” she added.

“Depending on how much water we are able to store at Bagbag reservoir for the day, we can either suspend or implement the low pressure to no water scenarios,” Rufo said.