Tiniyak ng Metro Pacific Iloilo Water (MPIW) na handa ito sa posibleng epekto ng El Niño sa water supply ng Iloilo City at pitong karatig na munisipalidad.
Sa media forum ngayong Miyerkules, May 20, sinabi ni MPIW chief operating officer Angelo David Berba na nasuri na nila ang posibleng supply scenarios at may mga nakalatag nang tugon.
“The medium to high impact of El Niño would come during the latter part of this year, that’s the forecast. Again, we are ready and prepared as early as May to mitigate the impact of El Niño. We have several programs in place, we have projects to recover lost water, approximately 10 million liters per day,” ani Berba.
Sa worst-case scenario, sinabi niya na water scheduling lamang ang posibleng epekto. Pinakamalaking tatamaan ang ilang bahagi ng Iloilo City, kung saan may humigit-kumulang 30,000 individual connections ang MPIW.
Kumpleto na rin aniya ang bulk water supply coordination. Naka-deploy, disinfected, at sumailalim na sa valving simulations ang static tanks.
Mahigit 20 water tankers ang naka-deploy sa service areas para dagdagan ang piped supply, habang may 24-hour monitoring ng supply schedules ang engineering teams.
Para dagdagan ang suplay, may modular desalination units sa dalawang site sa Iloilo City. Nasa site na ang seawater reverse osmosis unit sa Barangay Nabitasan sa La Paz, habang ini-install ang brackish water reverse osmosis unit sa Ateneo de Iloilo.
“The modular desalination facilities are under active construction. Once online, they will deliver an additional two million liters (MLD) of treated water per day directly to Iloilo households,” ani Berba.
Tinitingnan din ng MPIW ang pagkumpleto ng key pipeline projects sa 2026 at 2027, na inaasahang makakarekober ng 10 million liters per day na water supply.
Sakop ng infrastructure program nito ang humigit-kumulang P5 billion, nasa 50 projects, at 142 kilometers ng pipeline.
Sa normal conditions, nakakagawa ang MPIW ng average na 80.64 million liters per day mula sa combined sources nito. As of 12 p.m. noong Tuesday, nasa normal operating range ang supply level sa 80.76 million liters per day.
Sineserbisyuhan ng MPIW ang humigit-kumulang 52,000 individual connections mula sa Iloilo City at pitong karatig na munisipalidad. /Bistado