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No looming water crisis in Metro Manila - MWSS

November 3, 2016 | 4:05pm

No looming water crisis in Metro Manila - MWSS

The MWSS said there is no threat against Metro Manila's water supply and if there were, it would do all it can to avert it.

Philstar.com / File

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no looming water crisis in Metro Manila in the next four years as the government assures that it will avert the dreaded scenario of an insufficient supply in the National Capital Region, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said.

The MWSS is responding to recent reports published that Metro Manila will face a water crisis by 2020 should the government fail to secure a supplement to the 49-year-old Angat Dam, which supplies the water requirement in the area.

Around 95 percent of Metro Manila's water supply comes from the Angat Dam, which discharges water at the rate of 40 cubic meters per second and is coursed through tunnels toward distributors Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co., both private concessionaires of the MWSS.

"There is no threat. And should there be any, we will do everything we can to avert any possibility of a ‘looming water crisis’ because there are many things that can still be done," MWSS officer-in-charge Nathaniel Santos said in a press briefing Thursday.

"We already have a masterplan to response to any such risk and we are updating our plan because there’s a need to update the demand and adjust the timeline considering the developments and delay of some projects," he added.

Santos was referring to the P18.72-billion New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam project (NCWS-KDP) with a capacity of 600 million liters per day (MLD) that will supposedly meet the increasing water demand in Metro Manila.

"That (water crisis) can only happen if the government and the consuming public will not do anything. And the government is in fact, doing something. We don’t see a water crisis but there is an urgent need for us to continue pushing for the full implementation of the Kaliwa Dam project," Santos said.

The proposed new project aims to provide water security and reliability and to ensure short and long-term supply for Metro Manila and its adjoining areas.

The Kaliwa Dam was bid out last year and should have been completed by 2020. It has been pushed back and is now targeted to be finished and operational by the third quarter of 2022.

"We are midway in the procurement stage with two qualified bidders. The next stage is the issuance of bid documents, hopefully by the end of the year," he added.

As per MWSS’ indicative timeline, the notice of award is set early January 2017 followed by the contract signing by the end of January also.

The detailed engineering design and financial close is targeted until July 2017 while notice to commence construction will be August of next year.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Ernesto Pernia earlier said the government targets to bid about 17 infrastructure projects, including the Kaliwa Dam project, worth around P580 billion before the end of 2017.

The private partner for NCWS-KDP would be responsible for the designing, financing and construction of the Kaliwa Dam and the raw water conveyance structure.

The project will also be co-implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), as approved by the NEDA board in September. Under a build-transfer contractual arrangement, the government will pay the private partner with fixed annual amortization over 25 years.

The public-private partnership project aims to ensure long-term water security in Metro Manila and nearby provinces by increasing raw water supply to meet future potable water demand.

"There are a lot of things that can be done. We can still improve on the NRW (non-revenue water) of the two concessionaires," he said.

Currently, east zone concessionaire Manila Water is at 11 percent NRW while west zone concessionaire Maynilad is at 30 percent.

"Maynilad can still bring down its NRW so that we’ll have more water to distribute to consumers while Manila Water should be able to maintain that level," Santos said.

Furthermore, the MWSS also called on the consumers to take part in water conservation by significantly reducing their everyday demand.