Manila Water upgrades Balara laboratory

MANILA, Philippines—Manila Water Company, Inc. said on Tuesday that it inaugurated its newly upgraded laboratory facility in Balara, Quezon City for the benefit of customers in eastern Metro Manila and adjacent Rizal province.

The newly improved laboratory boasts of new equipment that puts it at par with well-established laboratories in the world that analyze water and wastewater samples, according to the Ayala-led company’s statement.

Manila Water said it has also acquired six refrigerated vans that would gather samples from as far as Rodriguez in the North and Jala-Jala in the South. These mobile refrigerators now guarantee the integrity of the samples from the point where it is taken up to the time it reaches the laboratory and tested.

The new equipment include spectrophotometer, incubators, ovens, water baths, sterilizers, analytic balances, fume hoods, and bio-safety cabinets.

Manila Water said the laboratory recently gained its ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 certification and has continually maintained its ISO 17025 and Department of Health accreditation as a testing facility including a recognition from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“The construction of the new laboratory is a significant initiative of Manila Water in strengthening its status as world-class water and wastewater service provider. With this new facility coupled with the company’s excellent technical personnel, its customers will truly reap greater benefit,” Manila Water chairperson Fernando Zobel De Ayala said in a statement.

Manila Water became the private concessionaire of the state-owned Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in 1997, and currently provides water and wastewater service to more than 6.1 million people in the eastern side of Metro Manila, covering parts of Quezon City and Manila, Makati, Pasig, Marikina, Mandaluyong, San Juan and Pateros as well as several towns of the province of Rizal.

The water service provider said that on a daily basis, its laboratory in Balara has been analyzing samples taken from 865 water sampling points to ensure clean and potable water to East Zone customers.

Manila Water said the facility has been producing high quality water that has been rated 100 per cent based on the physical, chemical and bacteriological standards of the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water.

Manila Water is also a member of the Metro Manila Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee and Rizal Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee headed by the Department of Health that regularly conducts sampling.

With the upgraded facility, customers are further reassured that water coming from the supply lines of Manila Water are of high quality. This will then lessen the dependency of people from buying more expensive bottled water.

The new laboratory hosts two floors with separate rooms for the analyses of water and wastewater samples. These samples are regularly tested for microbiological, physical and chemical properties and are taken from 865 water sampling points and wastewater treatment facilities. Part of the upgrade would include widening the separate isolation rooms for testing and analyzing water and wastewater samples, respectively and separate storage of chemicals and supplies, Manila Water said.