‘Friday dry run’

Last Friday March 8, 2019 an estimated 60,000 families found their water taps barely dripping or dried out. Most people heard or saw the news wherein a Manila Water spokesperson warned customers particularly in Pasig and Mandaluyong that “there would be reduced water pressure as a result of reduced water level at the La Mesa Dam.” It was not the categorical “No Water” announcement and the notice was given an estimated 12 or 16 hours before the fact. This turned out to be a miscalculation on the part of Manila Water executives for various reasons. First of all, the notice or alert was given via mainstream media unlike past events or incidents where Manila Water diligently sends out fliers or letters to all their customers a week in advance.

The fact that most people had very short notice prevented them from gathering or purchasing containers or drums in order to prepare. Because the notice was a general bulletin, it seems that many customers started saving water even those not affected. As a result they created an abnormal demand on the supply further reducing water pressure in the system that led to no pressure and no water on higher ground like where we live. We were literally “high and dry.” Many barangays rolled out their fire trucks to provide water but the supplies were limited, not enough trucks per barangay, and it took hours before word of mouth reached homes. The worst affected among the population were certainly the elderly many of whom no longer have the traditional “houseboys” or “maids” who could physically line up with containers or pails. In the end many people I know, survived the first 12 hours literally using bottled drinking water to take a bath. Many friends also learned a little known disadvantage in living in condominiums and buildings. 

By Friday it took Manila Water 12 hours to fully respond to the “emergency” by fielding water tankers all over the affected areas. By Saturday lunchtime, water was already flowing out of our taps and restoring some sense of calm except for the fact that the water pressure was iffy at times. By Sunday most of us had purchased drums, containers and had actually had a decent bath after 36 hours! The question in many peoples’ minds is “if there is a water shortage, how come everything seems normal all of a sudden?” Even scarier is the question: Are we in drought condition, will there now be water rationing etc.? Or is it all of the above?

I believe that the loss or pressure and dried taps last Friday was a miscalculated “DRY RUN” or what the Manila Water people call a “simulation.” It was a simulation of what can be expected in a summer season highlighted by an El Niño phenomenon of reduced rains and imminent drought: Water Shortage. Faced with that possibility, Manila Water engineers and management may have done an exercise where water supply would be drastically reduced by way of reducing water pressure. But as they discovered when you live people to their own devices, it will be “everybody for themselves” or on survivor mode. If faced by a crisis, Manila Water execs should have known that crisis MANAGEMENT based on schedules, clockwork, volumes and deliveries was what was needed. Most important of all our water authorities and providers should have thought of the problem months ago, with or without an El Niño situation!

I guess that all Manila Water can do for now is to conduct simulations or DRY RUNS and prepare for the worst because the government has not responded to their requests from previous years to tap into other dams or water sources. The request has been talked about for a few years now but Manila Water officials have opted to be politically correct and not pushed hard on the matter given the administration’s dislike of aggressive companies. So now their politically correct stance has come at the expense of public interest and security due to La Mesa dam’s possibility of turning into a dry bed. 

Yesterday, the news carried a statement from MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco urging the public to conserve water to help cushion the effects of El Niño. Year in and year out we always talk about water shortage, and critical water levels at La Mesa dam every time summer rolls in. The Metro Manila population keeps growing, demand for water keeps getting bigger but nothing major and serious has been undertaken to manage available stock, improve or develop the carrying capacity of La Mesa dam like dredging the heavily silted lake and to ‘BUILD – BUILD – BUILD” an interconnected supply line among all dams. Local architecture remains backward or lagging behind in terms of water conservation and recycling in building and residential designs and I certainly have not heard of an institute that promotes water engineering and conservation in communities.

No major policy decision has been arrived at to regulate and price water as a limited resource by way of escalated pricing the same way they do with electricity, the higher your consumption above normal or average; the higher rates you pay. So many experts have talked about dredging Laguna de Bay, La Mesa dam, the Pasig River but instead we are prioritizing, if not wasting, millions of pesos dredging Manila Bay, a bottomless pit of silt and slurry and sea water we can’t drink! The DENR has now turned Manila Bay into a showcase for God knows what, using outdated bucket scoopers instead of real conveyor style dredgers.

Last Friday’s Dry Run is a serious wake up call for government, the private sector and all Filipinos to take water conservation and management seriously because as Friday taught many of us, without running water, daily chores becomes three times more difficult, sourcing and storing and distributing at home comes with great difficulty. Businesses literally run dry and close down, living in condominiums is out of the question and staying in Metro Manila will no longer be viable.

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