MWC warns of water lack in 5 years

Metro Manila, home to more than 12 million people, will suffer from a water shortage if the government will fail to approve new water infrastructure projects such as the Laguna Lake East Bay plant immediately.

Manila Water Co. (MWC) Chief Operating Officer Geodino Carpio said this as he responded to the statement of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Reynaldo Velasco, who said the Ayala-led firm’s Laguna Lake East Bay project proposal is expensive to build.

The Laguna Lake East Bay plant, which could treat 250 million liters of water per day (mld), will be located in the middle of Manila Water’s Laguna Lake Central Bay project, which will be operational in October, and Kaliwa Dam, the government’s only flagship water project that is hoped to be completed within this administration.

The 113-billion Laguna Lake Central Bay project would have a capacity of 100 mld, while Kaliwa would have a capacity of 300 mld.

Carpio told reporters on Wednesday that Metro Manila badly needs a new water source between now and 2023, the target completion year for Kaliwa Dam.

“The demand in the city has exceeded. The solution is to produce another water source. Manila Water has completed a project that will produce 100 mld for us,” Carpio said, referring to the Central Bay project.

“MWSS is saying that ‘we are constructing Kaliwa.’ But 2023 is too late for us. We [as a concessionaire] are already using more than what we can get from Angat Dam. If we finish the Central Bay, it could buy us two years. We will have sufficient water but only until 2021,” he added.

If approved any time this year, the Laguna Lake East Bay project could come online by 2021.

It will then help address the demand for clean water which is expected to grow by a range of 40 to 50 mld a year.

“This year, we are breaking 1,650 mld [as for the demand]. By 2023, the demand will be 2000 mld based on our estimates,” Carpio said.

Carpio said he will soon meet with Velasco to discuss the issues surrounding the said project proposal.

As for new water sources, the administration is now banking largely on the development of Kaliwa Dam.

Part of the New Centennial Water Source Project (NCWSP), among the “legacy” water projects being pursued now by MWSS is the construction of the Kaliwa Dam in Brgy. Pagsangahan, General Nakar, Quezon and Brgy. Magsaysay, Infanta, Quezon.

The project will be largely funded by China and is expected to start construction this year.