The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) on Wednesday claimed that Maynilad had problems with the contractors of its Putatan water treatment plant, which led to extended service interruptions in parts of southern Metro Manila and Cavite.
MWSS chief regulator Patrick Ty told DZRH that based on their investigation, Maynilad's reason that their treatment plant was unable to handle the waste capacity was "not acceptable."
Ty said that while water treatment plants can only handle up to a certain level of waste, it was still within the parameters of the Putatan water treatment facility.
"Sa aming investigation that February, pinag-aralan namin 'yung water quality ng Laguna de Bay at it is within the parameters so hindi po acceptable 'yung excuse nila na yung sobrang dumi na hindi na kaya ng kanilang treatment plant," he said.
(Based on our investigation that February, we studied the water quality of Laguna de Bay and it is within the parameters so their excuse that the water there is too dirty to the point their treatment plant cannot handle it is not acceptable.)
"Since hindi po nila nalinis at nahirapan sila, I think nagkaproblema sila sa contractor nila kasi bago lang po itong treatment plant na ito," he added.
(Since they cannot clean it and they find it difficult to do so, I think they had problems with their contractor because this treatment plant is just new.)
The findings from MWSS are contrary to Maynilad's initial reason that there was a lack of water supply in Laguna de Bay and a "challenging" purification process due to chemical pollutants from the water source.
The MWSS has imposed a penalty on Maynilad in the form of financial rebates, which will start taking effect by April.
