ILOILO City — Consumers are being urged to conserve water after raw water production declined due to flash floods brought about by torrential habagat or southwest monsoon rains, which affected water quality at the Maasin Dam.
In a water supply advisory, the primary water distributor here reported that the water level at Maasin Dam reached 95.02 meters above sea level (masl), exceeding its normal operating level of 94.85 masl. Under Metro Pacific Iloilo Water’s (MPIW) monitoring system, this corresponds to its Red Alert classification for dam water levels.
Despite the elevated reservoir level, MPIW said the continuous heavy rains and flash floods increased sediment, debris, and turbidity in the raw water sources, prompting its bulk water suppliers to reduce production.
Raw water production dropped to 75.33 million liters per day (MLD), below the normal operating level of 80 MLD. MPIW classified the current production level under Yellow Alert status, with the critical threshold set at 73 MLD.
The reduction in production was necessary, the utility stressed, because the deteriorating quality of raw water made treatment operations more difficult, despite the abundance of water in the reservoir.
MPIW said it is closely coordinating with its bulk water suppliers while continuously monitoring conditions to minimize disruptions in water supply as weather conditions improve.
The advisory comes as southwest monsoon continue to bring rains across Iloilo and Western Visayas, triggering floods and landslides in several areas.
MPIW encouraged consumers to use water judiciously and store enough water for essential household needs while supply conditions remain affected.
The utility also apologized for the inconvenience and advised customers with concerns to contact Metro Pacific Iloilo Water through its official Facebook page or its customer hotlines.
MPIW is the primary water distribution utility for Iloilo City and its surrounding municipalities in Iloilo Province (Oton, Pavia, Santa Barbara, Cabatuan, Maasin, San Miguel, and Leganes). It is a joint venture between Metro Pacific Water and the Metro Iloilo Water District, tasked with managing, expanding, and upgrading the region’s water infrastructure.
MPIW provide water and sanitation services to over 860,000 residents across Metro Iloilo.
To resolve water scarcity in Iloilo, MPIW is spearheading a massive, multi-billion-peso Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination project in Barangay Ingore, La Paz district. Once completed, it will be the largest facility of its kind in the Philippines, adding millions of liters of safe drinking water to the daily supply./PN
