Bacolod City – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., assisted by local officials, inspected yesterday the Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant and Caliban Facility of Bacolod Bulk Water Inc. (BBWI) in Barangay Salvacion, Murcia, Negros Occidental.
BBWI, a subsidiary of Tubig Pilipinas Group, recently opened the water treatment facilities to deliver safe, affordable, and reliable potable water to the highly urbanized city of Bacolod.
In his speech, the President stated that the initiative is considered one of the largest water treatment facilities in the Negros Island Region, emphasizing that the Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant (WTP) strengthens Bacolod City’s long-term water security.
“This facility supplies treated bulk water to Bacolod City through the City Water District to ensure a more reliable water supply for the city,” Marcos said.
The facility has a capacity of up to 75 million liters of potable water per day and is expected to benefit around 100,000 households, or approximately 500,000 residents in Bacolod City and the Municipality of Murcia.
The P1.5 billion water supply project has completed three phases. It began with the opening of the Ngalan Water Treatment Plant in Barangay Granada, Bacolod City, in October 2017, which supplies up to 24 million liters of water daily to Bacolod residents.
The second phase involved the Sum-ag WTP and the 12.5-kilometer Murcia-Bacolod transmission pipeline, completed in March 2025, which currently delivers an additional 15 million liters of potable water per day.
The final phase was the construction of the Caliban River Intake in Barangay Abo-Abo, Murcia, completed in October 2025, adding 20 million liters of available capacity daily.
BBWI currently produces between 40 and 50 million liters of filtered and potable water daily.
The company is also undertaking Stage 4 of its expansion, which aims to further increase abstraction from the Caliban River and strengthen the northern system’s redundancy.
The P1.5 billion investment was funded through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), involving Climate Fund Managers and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). Marcos disclosed that this reflects strong confidence in the country’s infrastructure sector.
“It demonstrates our country’s established ability to make long-term investments succeed. This is especially true for projects aligned with climate resilience and sustainable development,” the President emphasized. He added, “Projects such as the Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant remind us that as long as we work together, we can transform our communities for the better.”
BBWI is part of the Tubig Pilipinas Group, a Philippine-based water infrastructure platform established in 2014, with a mandate to deliver sustainable water and sanitation solutions, particularly outside Metro Manila.
Tubig Pilipinas is owned by Quadwater and Pure Water, with 15 percent foreign direct investment from Climate Fund Managers (CI2), a Dutch–European Union-supported fund backed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the European Union.
Present during the inspection were Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya, Bacolod Lone District Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Murcia Mayor Gerry Rojas, other local officials, and representatives of international delegations. Top Bacolod City officials welcomed the Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant project, stressing that it will improve access to clean and reliable water for its concessionaires.
Thousands of water consumers in Bacolod City, are pinning their hopes on the water treatment facility, considered as the largest water treatment facilities in Negros Island Region, to address their never-ending complaints on shortage of potable water, especially during dry season.
Marking the inauguration of Sum-ag Water Treatment Plant and Caliban Water Facility, as an important milestone, Bacolod Lone District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said it is a major step forward in strengthening Bacolod’s long term water security.
Benitez said the water treatment facility will address 50 percent of the Bacolod City resident’s water needs, noting that 55 percent of the potable water needed by residents comes from deep wells.
With a capacity of 50 million liters per day, it can already supply up to half of Bacolod’s current demand, he added.
This (deep wells) is neither sustainable nor reliable in the long term. Over-extraction stresses our groundwater, increases operating costs, and exposes us to shortages during peak demand, the solon said.
Our plan is to gradually retire these deep wells as primary sources and convert them into strategic water reserves. This allows us to activate them only when needed—especially during summer months—bridging temporary shortages without passing additional costs on to consumers, Benitez said.
In this way, we protect our groundwater, stabilize supply, and keep water affordable for our people, the Bacolod solon said.
With a capacity of 50 million liters per day, he added it can already supply up to half of Bacolod’s current demand.
That gives us stability, resilience, and better cost management as our city continues to grow. Water security today is no longer just about infrastructure. It is about resilience in the face of climate change, population growth, and urban expansion. Planning capacity ahead of demand helps us avoid shortages and rising costs.
Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya, on the other hand, hailed the establishment of the water treatment facility, adding that Bacolod City will now have a steady supply of water.
The water treatment facility was described as the most modern bulk water plant in the country, using Israel’s technology, where AI appears to be running the facility, which is only managed by three personnel, according to Benitez.
On the proposed establishment of the Negros Occidental provincial government Bulk Water Project, Benitez said “the more supply, the better.”
There will always be a need and demand for more supply, the solon said. (Gilbert Bayoran/ Richard Caballero Jr. via tvds)