Maynilad reduces water supply

MANILA, Philippines – Water supply to Maynilad’s customers in its west zone concession area has been reduced as the water retailer deals with quality issues.

In a statement on Thursday, August 9, Maynilad said it noticed that the level of turbidity — the visible cloudiness due to suspended solids — zoomed up to 1,200 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) on Wednesday morning, when a southwest monsoon was battering Luzon and flooding over half of the capital.

This turbidity level is far from 100 NTU, which is the normal level during rainy season, it said. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality.

“Since this morning (August 9), we monitored increasing turbidity levels of our raw water supply from Angat dam. Consequently, we must continue limiting our water production,” it said.

“We regret that until water turbidity levels significantly decrease in the next few hours, we will not be able to normalize water supply for our affected customers within the day. But we would like to assure them that we are doing everything we can to ease the impact of our reduced water production through pressure management and water tinkering,” it added.

The water firm also said it initially conducted flushing operations and reduced water production when water discoloration was experienced in North Caloocan, Fairview, Commonwealth, Novaliches and Valenzuela.

Water discoloration was reduced after the flushing operations, but these also resulted in “low water pressure to no water supply” in the highly elevated portions of Quirino, Roosevelt, South Caloocan, Malabon and Navotas.

“To maintain the quality of our water supply to our customers and to protect the integrity of our water treatment plant, we had to reduce our water production from approximately 2,100 MLD (million liters per day) to around 1,900 MLD,” Maynilad said. – Rappler.com

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