MANILA – To address the scarcity of water in large parts of Metro Manila, President Rodrigo Duterte demanded the release of 150 days worth of water supply from Angat Dam.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte tasked the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to demand from Manila Water Company, Maynilad Water Services Inc. and other responsible offices to release water from Angat Dam in Bulacan province by noon yesterday.
“This order aims to supply the affected areas in Metro Manila with sufficient water,” Panelo said.
Early this week, Manila Water implemented lengthy water interruptions in several areas of Metro Manila and Rizal province to ensure that water supply would last until June or the rainy season.
“Failure to act or comply with this directive, the President will personally go to them and make the responsible officers account for such failure,” said Panelo.
Angat Dam is a concrete water reservoir embankment hydroelectric dam that supplies the Manila metropolitan area water. It was a part of the Angat-Ipo-La Mesa water system.
The reservoir supplies about 90 percent of raw water requirements for Metro Manila through the facilities of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and it irrigates about 28,000 hectares of farmland in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga.
Angat Dam is located within the Angat Watershed Forest Reserve in Barangay San Lorenzo (Hilltop), Norzagaray, Bulacan./PN
