West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) will install two modular treatment plants (MTP) in Cavite that would be enough to supply the needs of some 50,000 customers in the area.
Tapping rivers in Cavite as an alternative raw water source is part of Maynilad’s initiative to provide a medium-term solution to current water security challenges in Metro Manila, the company said.
In a statement, Maynilad said it will spend around P350 million to build the two facilities, which will produce an additional 13 million liters per day (MLD) of potable water.
The MTPs will use Ultrafiltration (UF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology to treat raw water drawn from rivers in Imus, Cavite.
The installation of the MTPs, along with the laying of a discharge pipeline to connect the facility to Maynilad’s existing pipe network in the area, is targeted for completion by February 2021.
Furthermore, Maynilad aims to install two more MTPs by the last quarter of 2021—one in Bacoor, another in Las Piñas.
This will yield another 13 MLD of potable water for distribution to the southern portion of Maynilad’s concession area.
Last weekend, Maynilad had to implement water supply interruption in some barangays in Bulacan, Caloocan City, Quezon City and Valenzuela City due to high demand in its La Mesa Pumping Station.
Jennifer Rufo, Maynilad Water's head for stakeholders communications office, told Business bulletin that it “has nothing to do with the water level in Angat Dam”.
“A power outage briefly affected the operation of our La Mesa Pumping Station, causing some of our customers to have no water supply. So when the power returned and our facility's operation resumed, affected customers began withdrawing more water in reaction to the unexpected service interruption,” Rufo said.
The interruption affected around 100,000 Maynilad customers.
Right now, the government is working to develop another major dam that can supply the water requirements of Metro Manila’s growing population.
Metro Manila, home to 12 million people, gets 97 percent of its water needs from Angat Dam, which is being distributed by Manila Water and Maynilad.
The 53-year old Angat Dam currently releases 4 million liters of water per day (mld). Of this, Maynilad gets an allocation of about 2,400 mld, while Manila Water Company Inc. gets the remaining 1,600 mld as well as all of the supply coming from La Mesa Dam.
Maynilad is an agent and contractor of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area.
Its concession covers cities of Manila (certain areas), Quezon City (certain areas), Makati (certain areas), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon—all in Metro Manila; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario—all in Cavite Province.