The Manila Water Co. Inc. said it would make “significant” investments in projects that will create alternative water sources, including the Calawis Water Supply System and the East Bay Ph1 Water Supply System initiatives.
The two system initiatives can add 80 million liters a day (MLD) and 50 MLD more capacity, respectively.
The Marikina PTP, other deep wells, and other possible contingency and augmentation measures will be further ramped up, according to the company.
Given the peak water demand during the ongoing drought season and the impending El Niño, Manila Water said these initiatives are given “the utmost importance” because they will reduce dependence on the current water supplies, Angat and La Mesa Dams, and Cardona treatment plant (Laguna Lake).
Along with the projects associated with the two water supply system projects, Manila Water is also preparing the reliability lines through the Novaliches-Balara Aqueduct 4 and the Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project (AWTIP) Tunnel 5 projects to evaluate and fix the existing aqueducts.
Key investments in wastewater have been made to expand wastewater service coverage within the East Zone and to comply with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources environmental protection standards under the Revised General Effluent Standards of 2016 (DAO 2016-08). Manila Water is currently constructing three sewerage treatment plants and sewer networks to serve portions of Mandaluyong, San Juan, Quezon City, Antipolo, San Mateo, and Rodriguez in Rizal, the San Mateo-Rodriguez Sewerage System, the Hinulugang Taktak Sewerage System Project, the Mandaluyong West Sewerage System, and the North and South Pasig Sewerage Systems to name a few.
“To be well-positioned to serve the public even amid the economic challenges, we want to ensure that our capital spending meets both our water supply and sewerage service obligations. After all, it has always been our utmost commitment to provide safe, reliable, and affordable water supply to more than seven million people in the East. This covers more than 1.3 million households and with over 5,000 kilometers of network pipelines,” Manila Water President and CEO JV Emmanuel de Dios said.
“For wastewater, we have invested nearly P40 billion in capital expenditures [capex] over more than 20 years and will ramp up our investments in the following years. Presently, wastewater coverage in the East Zone is now over 30 percent of population served, with nearly 400 kilometers of laid sewer network, allowing us to serve over 2 million Filipinos.”
He said this is a significant increase from only 3 percent coverage when the company took over operations from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in 1997. “These milestones would not have been possible without MWSS’ support and guidance.”
The company capped off 2022 with a total capex budget of P20.6 billion, recording the third consecutive highest capex for the company, beating the 2021 performance by almost P7 billion.
Manila Water said it awarded a total of 103 projects in 2022.
