MANILA: Water crisis is looming in Metro Manila if the government fails to find a source to supplement the Umiray–Angat–Ipo or Angat reservoir system, which will not be able to meet the needs of its more than 15 million inhabitants four years from now, a private water concessionaire has said.
The government still had no concrete backup plan for the current single supply source, which happens to sit on a fault line, Inquirer quoted Maynilad Water Services Inc. as saying. According to Maynilad president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez, disaster risks—the 49-year-old Angat sits on the West Valley Fault in Bulacan province—and climate change have made Metro Manila doubly vulnerable to an acute water shortage.
“We are at a very high risk because Metro Manila is dependent on one water source. We will have water shortage starting in 2020 when Angat cannot meet our demand anymore,” Fernandez reportedly said at a meeting between Maynilad officials and Inquirer editors and staff on Thursday night at the newspaper’s office in Makati City.
Fernandez was quoted as saying that the issue was not only about water running out but also about the need for a “redundancy” or a reliable backup to Angat. “For example, should a major earthquake occur that will (God forbid) affect the Angat Dam and Ipo Dam water system, then Metro Manila will have no major alternate water source. It will be waterless until Angat and Ipo Dams are repaired,” he added.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) reportedly said the chance of a serious breakdown of Metro Manila’s only water source was increasing.
“This would lead to losses to the economy of Metro Manila and the Philippines, as well as potential health hazards. The poor urban population would suffer most because of their limited capacity to tap alternative water sources,” it said.
ADB reportedly said experts placed the probability of a partial breakdown in the Angat system at 20 percent, with at least one-third of its water supply to Metro Manila lost and a minimum period of two months to restore the system. Aside from a quake, climate change was also putting more pressure on Angat to produce water for the metropolis, which has experienced a spurt in population growth, Fernandez was quoted as saying by Inquirer.
