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| https://media.philstar.com/ |
There is no doubt that if there is anything that is all over Manila news today, it would be the current water crisis now affecting the lives of the residents of Metro Manila. The water debacle was triggered when water services went down on March 7, 2019 and the days that follow. Initially pointed to sheer lack of water supply coming from Angat Dam, the Manila water crisis has now become a staple talk of the town, taking its own spotlight among the ranks of primetime drama.
There seems more than just lack of water supply.
Manila Water, the private concessionaire under fire in the news today for the crisis, claims that their company’s allocation from Angat Dam is no longer sufficient to cover the demand, posting a deficit of around 140 MLD. The deficit is said to be being filled by La Mesa Dam, but the water levels in the La Mesa Dam is already insufficient. When they issued an initial service interruption bulletin on March 4, 2019, Manila Water claims that even the residents of those not covered by the interruption went on to store water, further adding stress to the decreased water pressure. The surge in water demand caused further depletion of water supply and pressure across distribution networks, even areas not initially deemed to suffer lack of water supply.
Of course, the issue boils hotter on social media.
A former employee of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System or MWSS named Angel Salazar claims that the water supply crisis could easily be resolved by just opening the by-pass facility that would send water from the Angat Dam directly to La Mesa Dam instead of passing through Ipo Dam, then to La Mesa Dam. MWSS denies the allegations of the by-pass facility closure. Moreover, there are speculations that this water crisis could be staged in order to provide justification for the construction of Chinese-funded, albeit through loan, Kaliwa Dam. This angle caused so much furor, especially when the Secretary of the Department of Finance Carlos Dominguez III claimed that the Kaliwa Dam project would indeed solve the Manila water crisis that is almost always in the news today.
In the midst of all this, both houses of Congress would want to initiate separate investigations relative to the water crisis. As congressional investigations are being done in aid of legislation, no one can pin any hope that this would actually solve the problem.
The crisis is not yet over and may even get worse in the days to come, given that it is the dry season in the Philippines and, not to mention, the new twists to the unfolding drama people still get to see on a daily basis. At the end of the day, people affected by the crisis could only hope for the best; that people who are in the position to do something about this would actually do something in order to at least bring water supply to households during this excessively hot and unusually dry summer season.