Water woes ease rules on government uniforms

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the current water shortage in large parts of Metro Manila and several provinces, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) has given the heads of government agencies the discretion to suspend the wearing of uniforms of their employees.

“We understand that there may be employees affected by water shortage who are unable to regularly wash their office uniforms. We do not want this to become a reason for their absence from work and to eventually cause problems in pro-ductivity,” the CSC said in a statement.

The CSC said heads of agencies, including local government units, may issue internal memorandum suspending the wearing of office uniforms of their officials and employees until the water supply situation in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the provinces is back to normal.

The NCR and several provinces in Central and Northern Luzon have been experiencing water shortage for over a month due to the El Niño dry spell.

The water at La Mesa Dam in Quezon City dipped to a critical level last week, leading to longer water service interruptions in Metro Manila and parts of Rizal.

La Mesa Dam is the main source of water for the households in Metro Manila being served by concessionaire Manila Water Company Inc.

While Maynilad Water Services Inc. has started sharing up to 50 million liters of water a day to the service areas of Manila Water, it remains uncertain until when the water service interruption policy will be implemented.

Maynilad and Manila Water officials earlier said they were working with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and National Water Resources Board to get deep wells pumping again, while some hospitals have proposed that they be allowed to tap underground water.