MANILA, Philippines ? The Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System plans to cut by 13 percent the volume of water it draws from the Angat dam by February, due to the dry spell to be brought by the El Niño phenomenon.

In a briefing on Thursday, MWSS officials said that should the country continue to experience drought, the water supply problem would worsen by June, as the MWSS would have to reduce raw water drawn from the Angat dam by 24 percent.

MWSS senior deputy administrator Macra Cruz said this reduction was based on projections that the water level in Angat dam would drop to 158.01 meters above sea level (masl) by June, a level that could be the lowest to be recorded in over a decade.

The lowest water level of 158.15 meters above sea level in the Angat dam was recorded in 1998, when the country suffered a severe drought.

Cruz explained that a 24-percent cut in the volume of water being drawn from the Angat dam meant a reduction of over 1,000 million liters of water per day (mld) from the water supply in Metro Manila.

According to the MWSS administrator Diosdado Jose Allado, this planned raw water reduction scheme was meant to address a "very severe El Niño situation."

Allado was, however, quick to assure the public that the MWSS and the concessionaires have already begun implementing several measures to cushion the adverse effects
of a long drought.

"There is no reason as of yet for us to be panicking or to be unduly alarmed. It's just a matter of managing our resources and we are here to assure you that the MWSS and the concessionaires are working hand in hand to do exactly that -- to manage water resources to tide us over to what is now known as a very severe El Niño situation," Allado explained.

As of 8 a.m. on Thursday, the water level at the Angat Dam in Bulacan had fallen to 201.08 meters above sea level, which was about 20 meters from the critical level of 180 masl. At this time of the year, the water level is supposed to be at 208 masl.

Cruz said MWSS has been planning to gradually cut the water volumes being drawn from
the Angat dam from the normal 46 cubic meters per second (cms).

For January, MWSS cut the regular allocation to 43 cms (representing a 6.5-percent reduction from 46 cms); February, to 40 cms (13 percent); March, to 38 cms (17.4 percent); April, to 36 cms (21.7 percent); and in May and June, to 35 cms (24 percent).

Residents living in the east zone, which is being serviced by the Ayala-owned Manila Water Co. Inc. may only feel a slight reduction in the water pressure as gauged by the "psi" or the average water pressure at pounds per square inch.

Jeric Sevilla, Manila Water manager for corporate communications, said that most of the areas in the east zone would still experience water pressure of 21 psi and above within January to March this year, and even in June, when the water level would have dropped to record lows.

Sevilla earlier assured the public that Manila Water has been putting in place several measures -- including looking for alternative water sources ? that could help address a possible prolonged dry spell.

"Even if there is a prolonged dry spell, we are still looking at making water supply available for our consumers 24/7. But we're looking instead at supply management and pressure reduction measures," he had said.

Meanwhile, Cruz explained that consumers in the west zone, being serviced by Maynilad Water Services Inc., might be more affected by the water reduction scheme.

She noted that those living in the "high areas,? especially those that have not had a 24/7 supply, might experience less hours of water services.

"We have general and specific action plans for mitigating the impact of El Niño on our water supply. We will start carrying out these plans depending on the prevailing circumstances," Maynilad said in a statement.

"This early, we are also identifying the areas within our concession that are likely to experience the most changes in the water supply. We are doing this so we can make tailored actions for managing the supply in that area and minimize customer inconvenience," Maynilad explained.

Cruz also said the MWSS is similarly implementing a number of measures to mitigate the impact of the El Niño.

These included a distribution system adjustment (planned raw water reduction); public information campaign; intensive leak repair program; reactivation of standby wells; installation of static tanks; mobile water takers and mobile water treatment plants; fast-tracking of projects that would plug leaks in the water distribution system; recovery of backwash water; and intensive water quality monitoring, among others.

Other initiatives included cloud seeding operations and reactivation of a task force for El Niño.

Metro Manila's 15 million residents currently draw 97 percent of raw water
supply from the Angat Dam and Reservoir in Bulacan. Angat has an existing
capacity of over 4,000 million liters per day for domestic supply.