Every drop counts: save, conserve
It hit without warning, leaving tens of thousands of homes reeling from a water crisis that gripped the metro. Earlier this month, a large part of the East Zone, or those areas under the Manila Water Co. Inc. concession, lost water and had to endure severe water shortages for weeks. The reason, according to the Ayala-led water concessionaire, can be partly attributed to the critically low water levels at La Mesa Dam, where Manila Water draws some 150 million liters a day. This volume was crucial to augment the supply coming primarily from the Angat Dam.
Tankers were then deployed, Manila Water began a rationing system, and help came from all directions—from local governments, state agencies, and even West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services. Manila Water even offered financial relief, which some of its customers found to be not enough to offset the expenses they incurred during the shortage.
“To help ease the inconvenience in some way, Manila Water has announced ... a voluntary waiver of the minimum charge in March for all its East Zone customers. And a full bill waiver for March for those living in severely affected barangays. The waiver will be reflected in the April bill,” said brothers Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Fernando Zobel de Ayala in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“Please be assured that Manila Water is exploring all possible options to bring back services to the high levels that we are all accustomed to. As of March 25th, our eight- to 12-hour water availability at ground floor level has reached 97 percent. We continue to appeal for everyone’s patience as our teams at Manila Water are working hard and overtime to immediately and comprehensively remedy the situation,” they further said.
Developers’ contributions
Although water supply in the East Zone had significantly improved over the past several days, the crisis raised anew questions about the sustainability of water sources, prompting many to look at possible measures to contribute to alleviating the said shortage.
Some of the country’s biggest property developers such as Rockwell Land and Sta. Lucia Land were quick to their feet, deploying conservations measures in their respective projects.
According to Rockwell Land estate manager JR Escabusa, they immediately provided information to their residents regarding ways to conserve water. The upscale developer also reduced the water pressure across their projects and is currently using recycled water for landscape.
Similarly, Sta. Lucia Land released a letter to its residents about ways to conserve water and had also begun using recycled water for landscape areas.
Masterplanner’s view
“The current water shortage is a wake-up call for everyone that by now should have alerted us to the reality that amid the steadily growing prosperity in our society, there is a finiteness to the essential things that support life,” explained Joel Luna, principal of Joel Luna Planning and Design (JLPD).
Luna, a registered architect, environmental planner and a certified Berde professional with over 30 years of experience, added that what is critical is for everyone to “develop a mindset of conservation where waste is avoided and limited resource is conserved.”
Luna, who has expertise in the field of mixed use development planning and township development planning, offers several ways on how developers can better design their projects to include sustainability measures that will enable them to better conserve water.