It has been a week since Typhoon Ulysses made landfall in the Philippines, but Maynilad Water Services Inc. has yet to resume its normal production level due to continued high turbidity level of raw water in Ipo Dam.
Jennifer Rufo, head of corporate communications at Maynilad, said the sustained inflow of turbid water from Ipo Dam up to now prevented the company from maintaining its target production level.
Turbidity refers to increased sediment concentrations in the raw water.
"This affected network pressure, and the impact was immediately felt in elevated portions of our concession area," Rufo said on Thursday.
"Hence, some of our customers in high-lying areas are currently experiencing a longer service interruption than scheduled," she added.
Metro Manila currently gets its water supply from the interconnected Angat-Ipo-La Mesa water system.
Rufo said Maynilad's technical team is now implementing system adjustments at the plant to address its current concern.
As of Wednesday evening, Maynilad already commenced the filling up of one of the basins at its La Mesa Treatment Plant after having removed the sludge that accumulated since Thursday due to the inflow of highly turbid water brought by Typhoon Ulysses.
Clearing operations for the other two basins are ongoing, and being done round-the-clock, the company said.
Meantime, the company has increased its mobile water tanker complement in the area, and are also asking for assistance from the local government unit (LGU) and the local fire bureau to add to its fleet of water tanker deliveries.
"We apologize for the inconvenience, and continue to ask for our customers' patience as we facilitate the clearing operations at our treatment facilities that were affected by Typhoon Ulysses," Maynilad said.
Over the weekend, Rufo told Business Bulletin that water service interruptions within some parts of Metro Manila may last only until Sunday.
Maynilad areas that were experiencing water service interruption then include Bacoor, Imus, Caloocan, Las Pinas, Pasay, Makati, Malabon, Navotas, Manila, Quezon City, Paranaque, Muntinlupa, and Rosario.