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MANILA – Manila Water's failure to complete a treatment plant is partly to blame for a water shortage in the capital that has hit tens of thousands of households, a regulator said Wednesday.

For over a week now, some within Manila Water's concession area have grappled with no supply or little pressure on their taps. This shut businesses like laundromats and forced people to form long queues for water ration.

"Ang pagkukulang talaga nila ay hindi nila nadeliver ang Cardona Water Treatment Plant in Cardona, Rizal... Ang puno’t dulo nito, ang kanilang mga proyekto na dapat mag online last December pa, last year pa, nadelay," MWSS chief regulator Patrick Ty told DZMM radio.

(They failed to deliver the Cardona Water Treatment Plant in Cardona Rizal. The root cause of this, is the project that should have been online since December)

Manila Water, in charge of the capital's east zone, is "rushing" to energize the plant within the month, he said.

Maynilad, which serves the West Zone of Metro Manila, is "unlikely" to experience shortage, its chairman Manny Pangilinan said Wednesday.

• EXPLAINER: Why is there a water shortage in Metro Manila?