MANILA, Philippines – Some 900 barangays or villages in Metro Manila and the Greater Manila area will begin experiencing water interruptions on Wednesday, September 16, as part of measures to prepare the mega city for El Niño. (See complete list of villages here.)

In a press statement released on Friday, September 11, water concessionaire Maynilad said affected villages will have no water coming out of their faucets from 9 pm to 4 am every day starting September 16.

The 900 villages account for 56% of the West Zone of Greater Manila, the area serviced by Maynilad. Homeowners can check if they are affected by typing their Contract Account Number in this Maynilad website feature.

The initial schedule will have the 900 villages go without water for 7 hours for the first week of implementing the water supply adjustments.

After that week, the number of hours without water will be increased until affected villages experience more than 12 hours without water.

“At this initial phase of system adjustments, we shall implement the supply interruptions daily from 9 pm to 4 am only. This off-peak schedule will be gradually extended until, at full implementation, we will adopt the different supply interruption schedules for each area,” said Maynilad Water Supply Operations engineer Ronaldo Padua.

Rotational interruption soon

Maynilad is preparing supply interruption schedules specific to each area in order to ensure households will still have a daily water supply, even if only within a limited time. (READ: 9 everyday chores you can do using less water)

The schedules have been arranged in such a way that interruption in villages will happen rotationally.

Homeowners in affected villages are encouraged to stock up on water starting Monday or Tuesday, said Maynilad head of media relations Madel Zaide.

“It’s not advisable to begin storing water today, September 11, because it can get contaminated by dirt or mosquitos. Best to do it two days or the day before the interruption,” she said.

Parched watersheds

Despite the estimate of a week of 7-hour water interruptions, the schedules still largely depends on the weather.

The length of time villages have to go without water in a day, and for how many days can still change if rains are observed in the watersheds of Angat Dam and Ipo Dam where Maynilad gets its water.

The water interruptions are necessary preparations for the dry months ahead due to the El Niño currently affecting the country.

The National Water Resources Board is imposing reduced water allocations for the two water concessionaires, Maynilad and Manila Water, in order to conserve water supply in its dams.

This is to ensure water supply during the dry months of December to March.

NWRB said 355,500 homes in the National Capital Region would experience more than 12 hours without water daily, as a result.

The other water concessionaire, Manila Water, is yet to announce when its water interruptions will take place and which villages will be affected.

The El Niño phenomenon, which scientists say is the strongest in modern history, is expected to last until 2016. – Rappler.com

Faucet image from Shutterstock