The National Water Resources Board on Thursday said the current allocation of 36 cubic meters per second or about 3.1 billion liters per day will stay because of the low level supply of Angat Dam in Bulacan.
In a statement, the board took into account the weather forecasts of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration that there would be no rains in Angat watershed due to a weak southwest monsoon.
“However, it is projected that the monsoon rains will be present next week. It is our hope that the monsoon rains and the forecast tropical cyclones this month will come earlier to help in the early recovery of Angat Dam,” it said.
The agency said the public must still observe water conservation, and rain harvesting and recycling to help ease the dam’s poor water supply.
The water level at Angat Dam dropped below critical level again on Thursday, based on PAGASA’s monitoring.
As of yesterday 6 a.m., Angat Dam’s level went down to 159.93 meters from Wednesday’s 160.30-meter elevation.
The dam provides 97 percent of the water needs of Metro Manila and its nearby provinces.
Last June 22, the dam’s level breached its critical level at 159.78 meters.
Because of the low elevation of water, the NWRB decided to reduce the allocation to Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and its concessionaires — Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. — to 36 cubic meters per second from the regular allocation of 46 cubic meters per second.