Some 2.9 million customers stand to lose water connection for at least 3 to 4 days as Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) starts a pipe realigning project along the stretch of Sobriedad Street corner Cristobal Street in Sampaloc, Manila from Oct. 25 to Oct. 28, 2021.
The project, which will cost Maynilad P197 million, aims to assist the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to partly address the perennial flooding problem in the City of Manila.
Households and institutional customers who will be affected comprise about 28 percent of Maynilad’s total clientele base involving 421,000 water connections in the areas of Las Piñas, Makati, Manila, Parañaque, Pasay, Bacoor, Cavite City, Imus, and the municipalities of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario in Cavite province. Of this, 60,000 connections are in the City of Manila.
While the service interruption due to this pipe realignment is in place, Maynilad will also take the opportunity to conduct other smaller, parallel activities—including leak repairs in other areas and maintenance works in several pumping stations—which would otherwise require the implementation of separate service disruptions.
“Since this project is a big activity for Maynilad, we deemed it proper to also undertake some preventive maintenance, repairs and installations of pipes and valves in areas that will be affected by this project,” said Maynilad vice president and head of operations Ronald Padua.
To mitigate the impact of the pipe realignment activity, Maynilad is installing 14 stationary water tanks and deploying 60 mobile water tankers to serve areas that will experience three straight days of interrupted supply. It will also tap the assistance of local government units and local fire bureaus to expand the available fleet of water tankers that can help deliver water to affected communities.
Padua assured customers of continued supply of water during the duration of the project for areas that will be cut from the system while there will be advisories for areas that can be serviced and allowed water connection every other day.
“We have issued announcements on our social media page and in our website as well as advisories on newspapers of the service interruption so people are amply advised and we also encourage them to store water in any means possible to them. Rest assured that water will be available through our tankers and stationary water tanks,” he added.
The pipe realignment project is a priority project of Maynilad for 2021 which is included in the annual capital expenditure program of the company.
Maynilad said the company will be observing strict physical distancing protocol as well as the minimum health protocol as advised by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to prevent super spreader events.
Padua said hospitals, medical facilities, and health institutions will be given priority to ensure a sufficient supply of water.
“The water distribution will be coordinated with the respective affected local government units down to the barangay level,” he said.