Water Supply Cut in Philippines Capital on El Nino Dry Spell

(Bloomberg) -- Some areas in the Philippines’ capital region are without water or suffering from reduced supply as providers limit delivery amid a dry spell caused by El Nino conditions.

Ayala Corp.’s Manila Water Co. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.-led Maynilad Water Services Inc. said in separate statements that they have implemented operational adjustments, which have resulted in low to no water in certain areas of Metro Manila, home to about 12.9 million people.

People in locations that aren’t supposed to be affected by the supply reduction have started storing water, triggering an artificial increase in demand, Manila Water said. Some areas in Las Pinas City, Muntinlupa City and parts of Cavite province south of the capital will have little or no supply, Maynilad said. Manila Water said the same conditions will be experienced in the cities of Makati, Marikina and Pasig.

State regulator Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System has asked consumers to use water wisely amid the El Nino conditions, which may continue until June. Elevation at Angat Dam, which supplies the bulk of the capital region’s requirement, declined to 201.7 meters on Friday from 204.6 meters on March 1, according to data from the regulator.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, James Poole, Peter Vercoe

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