MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) is working double time to stabilize water supply coming from the algae-infested Laguna de Bay.
The proliferation of algae was blamed on warmer temperatures brought about by the mild El Niño, explaining why the water production of its facilities in Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa City, slowed down recently.
The company’s Putatan Water Treatment Facilities 1 and 2 are capable of producing 250 million liters of water per day (MLD).
In a statement, Maynilad said affected customers in portions of Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Cavite will continue to experience low pressure to no water supply daily, within the schedule provided previously, until May 14, 2019.
The company said to cushion the impact of reduced water production because of the algal bloom in Laguna de Bay, 40 mobile water tankers were dispatched and are currently doing the rounds in severely affected areas to provide potable water to its customers.
“Our technical teams are working double time to bring our water production back to normal levels sooner rather than later. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Maynilad said.
Despite the continued algae proliferation in Laguna de Bay, the company was able to increase the production of its Putatan water treatment facilities (PWTP 1 and 2) from a low of 80 MLD to 125 MLD as of 2 a.m. on May 2, 2019.
However, the company admitted producing 125 MLD per day is way below the full combined capacity of its facility of 250 MLD.
“While this is still below our normal production—as the facilities’ full combined capacity is at 250 MLD—it is an improvement that will help us to better stabilize supply in the network, and marginally increase the supply availability window for some of the affected areas,” Maynilad said.
Maynilad said it is intensifying treatment interventions to address the issues brought about by the algal bloom and bring production back to normal levels.