Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
Image by Kawita Chitprathak from Pixabay
Over 14 million people call Metro Manila home. On weekdays, this number can swell up to 18 million as workers from neighboring provinces troop to the capital to report for work.
Millions of people gathering in one place at any given day stretches already strained water resources, particularly as the government sounded the alarm over El Nino and the challenges on how to mitigate its effects.
Water is a precious resource, and concerns about a scarcity of supply has been hogging headlines. But how much do we know of the liquid gold we often take for granted? how much work goes into supplying taps with a running flow?
Keeping the capital humming is a delicate dance that entails ensuring there are enough key resources – including water – for all.
THE FLOW OF POTABLE WATER (AN OVERVIEW)
In a nutshell, water flows from Angat Dam to Ipo Dam, both in the province of Bulacan, and then to Quezon City’s La Mesa Dam and Novaliches portal.
Water that then courses past the Novaliches portal undergoes treatment at the concessionaires, after which they pass through an underground network of pipes and into individual households.
AGENCIES INVOLVED
Providing water for Metro Manila is the responsibility of the following agencies and entities: the NWRB, the MWSS, and the concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water.
The National Water Resources Board
The NWRB is the government agency which manages and regulates all water resources and services in the Philippines. It aims to allocate sufficient water for optimal beneficial use, to ensure access to safe water supply and adequate sanitation services; and to preserve flow regimes for ecological integrity.
The National Water Resources Board
The NWRB is the government agency which manages and regulates all water resources and services in the Philippines. It aims to allocate sufficient water for optimal beneficial use, to ensure access to safe water supply and adequate sanitation services; and to preserve flow regimes for ecological integrity.
Manila Water
Manila Water Company, Inc. is a publicly listed company founded in 1997. It is the concessionaire of the state-run MWSS to deliver water supply, wastewater, and sanitation services in the East Zone serving over 7.3 million people.
Maynilad
Maynilad Water Services, Inc. was likewise formed in 1997. I was given the exclusive right to provide water and wastewater services in the West Zone of Metropolitan Manila.
In 2006, DMCI-MPIC Water Company, a joint venture between Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) and DMCI Holdings, Inc. (DMCI), acquired 83.96% of Maynilad’s shares following a competitive bidding by the Philippine government.
Marubeni Corporation of Japan acquired a 20% stake in the DMCI-MPIC water company and became a strategic partner of the Metro Pacific-DMCI consortium in 2013.
Disclaimer: Maynilad Water Services Inc. and BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation are under the conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).
Present sources
Over 90% of the capital’s water comes from Angat Dam. That number still holds, although steps are being taken to tap additional water sources.
The Angat Watershed Reservation lies on the southernmost tip of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. It is situated largely in the municipalities of Dona Remedios Trinidad, Norzaragay and San Jose Del Monte, all in the Province of Bulacan. The Northeastern boundaries stretch into the municipalities of General Tinio, the province of Nueva Ecija and Infanta, and the province of Quezon.
The NPC has a masterplan for the protection of the Angat watershed, said Emmanuel A. Umali, NPC’s department manager for the Watershed Management Department.
“We identified three major zones in the watershed,” he said in a September 21, 2023 interview. “These are mainly the strict protection areas where we employ forest protection activities and enforcement of forest laws, rules and regulations” through partners such as volunteers and the military, he added.
The Angat watershed, Mr. Umali said, “is the only remaining forested area in the Metro Manila, and it serves as the lungs of the metropolis…because the area is still forested.”
Socio-economic value are as follows:
Main source of water for Angat Hydro-electric power plant
Main source of water for the irrigation of about 31,000 hectares of riceland in Bulacan and Pampanga
Provides 500 million gallons per day to Metro Manila
An ideal place for nature tripping, mountain climbing, boating and bird watching, and biodiversity studies/research
Home of about 500 indigenous families known as Dumagats found residing in fourteen resettlement areas.
Angat Dam structural integrity is intact, Wilfredo S. Senadrin, NPC’s manager for the Dams, Reservoirs, and Waterways Division, also said.
“As long na ginagawa mo yung proper maintenance, hindi mawawala yun [As long as you conduct the proper maintenance, that’s not going to change],” he said in a separate interview, also on September 21.
He told BusinessWorld that its being embankment type of dam also contributes to Angat’s strength:
“Kung matatandaan niyo nung 1990 …nung nagkaroon tayo ng earthquake sa Luzon…Ang epicenter nun nandiyan lang sa Nueva Ecija, e gaano kalapit lang sa Angat, pero ang Angat walang naging problema [If you remember, there was an earthquake in Luzon in 1990. The epicenter was in Nueva Ecija, which is near Angat, but Angat didn’t encounter problems then].”
Laguna Lake provides the rest of the capital’s needs at present. The western side is utilized by Maynilad, the eastern side by Manila Water.
It is the largest lake in the Philippines and the third largest inland body of water in South-East Asia, after Toule Sap of Cambodia and Lake Toba of Sumatra.
The w-shaped body of water has two peninsulas on the north. The middle lake lobe between the two fills the large volcanic Laguna Caldera, formed by two volcanic eruptions sometimes between 1 million and 27,000 years ago. There are a total of nine islands on the lake of which the largest is Talim Island, which is part of the division between the West and Center Bay.
Distribution
Treated water journeys its way to an underground network of pipes that are complemented by pumping stations and reservoirs. A supply and pressure management team operates these pumps and reservoirs, depending on a community’s demand, and how elevated its location is.
The MWSS mandates a 7 pounds per square inch (PSI) of water pressure, said Christopher Gaon, Maynilad’s head of north water production.
“We try to maintain this pressure based on the terrain,” he said in a January 30, 2024 Zoom call.
“We have certain areas that are also high, and that’s where we use inline boosters and pumping stations to bring the water to higher elevations,” he said. With the pumping stations, he added, “we grease the pressure so that it can travel again down the line.”
Maynilad optimizes where pumping stations are placed, due to their high energy requirement, Mr. Gaon said.
An emailed statement on November 22, 2023 from Ricky A. Arzadon, CESO III, OIC-Executive Director of NWRB:
“The allocation for MWSS is determined and approved by the NWRB on a monthly basis as recommended by the Technical Working Group of the Angat Dam operations composed of NWRB, MWSS, NIA, National Power Corporation (NPC) and Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
The recommended allocation is based on the PAGASA weather updates, status of the Angat reservoir from the National Power Corporation, updates on the water supply conditions inMetro Manila by MWSS and their monthly request allocation.
For 2023, the MWSS has an allocation of 48 cubic meters per second (CMS) in the first two (2) months of the year in July, and 50 CMS for the rest of the months making an average allocation of 49.80 CMS. Its allocation is supplied to the two Metro Manila concessionaries, Maynilad and Manila Water, and to ‘Bulacan Stakeholders’ composed of San Jose Del Monte Water District and Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project.”
Update: The NWRB is considering raising the water allocation for Metro Manila by two cms, depending on water levels at Angat Dam, an April 2, 2024 news item reports. Susan P. Abano, NWRB chief of policy and programs, said that the board is looking into increasing the water allocation for the MWSS from 48 cms to 50 cms if the water level of Angat Dam does not go below 195 meters.
Recycling wastewater
Climate change is a threat both to the planet, as well as the resources needed for humanity to survive.
Recycling water is one way to combat the global issue, according to Maynilad.
“The two major sources in the Angat and Ipo system are affected because of climate change, [which includes] El Nino and La Nina,” Ronald C. Pagua, Maynilad’s spokesperson, said.
“In Laguna Lake, [on the other hand,] we are being affected mainly on the water quality,” he said in an October 6 interview. “It’s actually ten times more expensive [to treat water from Laguna Lake] than it is to treat water from here in the treatment plants in La Mesa.”
Maynilad, he said, is building a third water treatment plant in Laguna Lake, for which they expect to get about 300 MLD to serve Manila and parts of Cavite by 2027.
“Maynilad is doing all its efforts for us to be able to adapt to this ever-changing condition of our water sources,” he added. “We are also ensuring that we are partnering with the different government agencies and doing some education campaigns to our customers.”
Credits: Produced by Patricia Mirasol, Jino Nicolas, Patricia Garcia, Earl Lagundino, and Joseph Emmanuel Garcia. Layout and web development by Criselda Valentin.