THE Mandalay City Development Committee early this month adopted a new water supply schedule for city residents.

Under the new schedule, all residential areas north of 35th Street will receive water from 6am to 12pm, while those who live south of the thoroughfare will have access to water from 6pm to 11pm, said an MCDC official.

He said the new schedule was adopted because frequent disruptions to the power supply had affected the city’s pumping stations.

During April, Mandalay’s No 1 pumping station experienced 93 power outages for a total duration of 72 hours, while the No 2 station had 45 outages totalling 224 hours.

Each day the city distributes four million gallons of water to 500,000 people from its seven pumping stations.

Drought conditions have also caused the water level in the reservoir around Mandalay Palace, also used as a water source by the committee, to drop to 5 feet 8 inches. The water level must be at least seven feet for the reservoir to be a viable source of water for the city.

According to a study conducted by the Japan International Co-operation Agency, the population of Mandalay will reach 1.1 million in 2020, when it will require 80.5 million gallons of water a day.

The study estimated that a water supply system that can meet these needs would cost about US$130 million.