The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Lito U. Gagni
There is a looming water crisis in the country whose breadth and scope is unprecedented and yet the government and populace remains clueless to the worst El Niño phenomenon to hit the globe.
Already, many countries have announced major plans to battle the looming water crisis whose economic effects are far worse than super-typhoons and still the government has yet to make its own “water-lack” drill.
It is a good thing that the private sector has taken a pro-active stance towards the looming water crisis announcing plans on mitigating the effects of what is being bruited about as a strong El Niño risks.
The announcement then by the Manila Water, concessionaire in the East Zone that includes portions of Quezon City and Manila, Pasig, Marikina, San Juan, Pateros, Taguig, Makati, Mandaluyong and Rizal province, on its plans for the strong El Niño phenom comes then as a wake-up call.
Netizens thus have come to applaud the Manila Water’s pronouncement on its plans vs. the El Niño phenomenon which is expected to start two months away and last up to May next year.
For , unwittingly Manila Water has come up smelling roses for its proactive stance at combatting the effects of the water crisis seen to start this October.
The announcement it made this week shows that it is aware of the crisis and is doing everything to make life bearable for its customers , now numbering 6.3 million.
The company said that “ (w)ith the El Niño phenomenon expected to intensify by the last quarter of this year, East Zone water and used water concessionaire Manila Water said it is already preparing its contingency and mitigation plans in order to lessen the potential impact to its 6.3 million customers in its service areas.”
This announcement is a welcome gesture coming at a time when the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the public should expect that the current moderate El Niño is very likely to become strong beginning October this year which may last up to May 2016.
According to Manila Water OIC for Corporate Strategic Affairs Group and also Corporate Communications Head Jeric Sevilla, Manila Water is currently closely coordinating with other member agencies of the Interagency Technical Working Group on El Niño to prepare early for the worsening El Niño.
Pagasa has indicated below to way below normal rainfall conditions during the last quarter of this year though that is supposed to form part of the rainy season.
The water level at Angat Dam at this time is only a little above 180 meters which is still more than 30 meters below the normal operating level of 212 meters, the targeted year-end level of the dam.
Sevilla said at the moment, supply to Manila Water customers remain normal despite the reduced allocation to 41 cubic meters per second largely because of the inflows to both Ipo and La Mesa dams.
The efficiency of its water network due to the reduction of system loss to the present 11% has greatly contributed to ensuring that water produced from its treatment plant go directly to its customers.
Part of the East Zone concessionaire’s mitigation plans include the intensification of leak repair programs; ensuring all equipment and facilities such as treatment plants, pump stations and reservoirs are operable to avoid downtime; reactivation of deep wells for possible supply augmentation; deployment of mobile treatment plants; and implementation of supply and pressure management schemes, in case needed.
Manila Water’s pronouncements on its preparatory work is something laudable, according to netizens and those who remain not tuned to the possible strong El Niño phenomenon.
And yet, all around the globe, according to netizens, many countries have been announcing plans on what their government agencies are doing for the El Niño.
One netizen said that it took Manila Water for him to take a cue on the enormity of the situation with the strong El Niño phenom. He said this is what the government should prepare for.
The government, one netizen said, should not take a cavalier attitude towards the looming economic mess and be proactive in addressing the El Niño which is due to the warming of the ocean waters due to the carbon emission, among others.
It should, in fact, come up with a sort of drill that the metropolis came witness to regarding the huge quake that is expected to occur. For the El Niño is just two months away.
However, the government has yet to make its act together and it took the Manila Water and a muted announcement from Pagasa for netizens to be aware of the oncoming dry spell.
For perspective, one just has to go over the recent news tidbits that zeroed in on the El Niño .Consider what countries have come up with regarding the dry spell starting in October:
In Mumbai, India, there was an announcement for the digging of a whopping 100,000 wells to combat the effects of the El Niño. On top of this, the booming Mumbai place is also creating 50,000 farm ponds
The twin moves are expected to mitigate the effects of the looming dry spell which could spell havoc on its agriculture.
In California, Los Angeles is preparing to drop 96 million “shade balls” into its water reservoirs to conserve water as well as protect water quality.
Reports said that LA Mayor Eric Garcetti presided over the dropping of four-inch black balls, totaling 96 million, on the city’s 175-acre reservoir which holds 3.3 billion gallons.
The plastic balls are to shade and cool the water, reduce evaporation, and make the water reservoir less susceptible to algae and bacterial growth.
These water conservation measures should be made as part of a government announcement to inform the citizenry as the water crisis could have a huge adverse economic impact on the country.
It is time for the government to be pro-active much like that of Manila Water, which with its pronouncement show that it is good corporate citizen.
For instance, it is trying to effectively address the loss of water by way of immediately repairing leaking pipes, identifying deep wells it would have to reactivate should the dry spell set in, deploying mobile treatment plants.
This is the way to prepare for the El Niño: stop water loss and identify wells. And where needed, make available mobile treatment plants to have extra water.
Manila Water has shown the netizens that it is a model corporate citizen and does not need a gentle needling from the government for it to do what it is expected to come up with: have sufficient water for the populace.