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Friday, March 29, 2024

Lawmaker eyes Laguna de Bay as NCR’s potable-water source

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A member of the House Committee on Metro Manila development seeks to explore the viability of Laguna de Bay as another source of potable water for the National Capital Region (NCR).

In a statement, Makati City Rep. Luis N. Campos Jr. said the country’s largest inland waterhole can be tapped to assure the NCR’s water security amid rapid consumption growth and recurring dry spells due to harsh climate change.

According to Campos, the 2.2 billion cubic meters of water naturally deposited in the 90,000-hectare lake is a mix of water from dozens of rivers and streams, rainwater, storm water runoff and sewage.

“We have to take full advantage of Laguna Lake’s largely untapped water resources. There are modern technologies available to rigorously clean the vast amounts of water that may be sustainably recycled from the lake,” Campos said. “The reprocessing of Laguna Lake’s water supply will also help lessen flooding, which is a persistent problem in surrounding communities,” Campos said.

The lawmaker said the lake tends to overflow during heavy rains, causing floods in parts of Laguna, Rizal and eastern Metro Manila.

“By reusing water from the lake, Metro Manila’s private water concessionaires will also achieve in one action their dual obligations to deliver round-the-clock water supply to consumers and to provide wastewater treatment facilities,” Campos said, referring to Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc.

For years, the two concessionaires have been relying on Angat Dam in Bulacan to supply 96 percent of Metro Manila’s water demand.

“We recognize that decontaminating water from Laguna Lake is more costly than treating water from Angat, but the concessionaires really have no choice but to expand their sources if we are to avoid another water crisis,” Campos said. In 2019, consumers reeled from prolonged daily water service interruptions after a severe dry spell caused Angat’s water level to plunge 52 meters below its 210-meter normal high elevation.

That year, Manila Water began harvesting 50 million liters of water per day from the lake after building the Cardona Water Treatment Plant in Rizal.

Campos, however, emphasized there is a need to have “multiple water treatment facilities drawing off Laguna Lake.”

Meanwhile, House Committee on Metro Manila Development Chairman Manuel Luis T. Lopez asked water concessionaires to secure their water supply  in preparation for the dry season.

Lopez said the combination of a pandemic and a possible water crisis could be disastrous.

“Access to water is a right and we no longer want to experience another water crisis that would burden us even more now that we are in a pandemic,” Lopez added.

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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