Maynilad Water Services is upgrading and retrofitting its La Mesa and Putatan water treatment plants to address threats of rising turbidity levels in its raw water sources.
“We are investing in additional treatment technologies so that these facilities can handle the now-unpredictable variations in raw water quality,” Maynilad president Ramoncito Fernandez said.
Maynilad has been investing in adaptation controls for resiliency and for better water quality and service efficiency.
Because of infrastructure limitation, Maynilad is implementing the “distributed water sources” or smaller reservoirs spread out in different locations.
“We adopted this same principle in our wastewater management program,” he said. “This strategy has enabled Maynilad to meet increasing demand and enhance supply reliability, and expand wastewater coverage despite the lack of real estate and other constraints.”
Maynilad is also coordinating with Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to ensure additional water supply is delivered to the growth areas in its concession.
“We are looking at advanced treatment technologies that will allow us to harness other water sources—such as seawater and/or reused water—and make these safe for domestic and industrial use,” said Fernandez.
“Until then, we strive to optimize the current supply by tightening our distribution system for better supply distribution and water recovery. We also work closely with all Angat Dam stakeholders to sustain the water requirements of our customers, especially during times of El Niño.”
“We really need to source water from other dams or other areas which is precisely why we are working on our Kaliwa dam project as well as Laguna Lake,” added MWSS administrator Reynaldo Velasco.
“The need to look for other water sources is paramount because of our overall water security program in the event that a major disaster strikes as 95.6 percent of Metro Manila’s water supply come from Angat and Ipo dams,” he said.
Maynilad has also been investing heavily in new water infrastructure. Its investments in more pumping stations, reservoirs and pipe replacements are part of its solution to improve resiliency to climate change leading to reliable supply.
“The adoption of new technologies is crucial in our bid to keep improving efficiencies,” said Fernandez.
“We are in the process of fully automating our operations,” he said.