West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) has inspected over 154 kilometers of primary lines throughout its concession area since 2020 using the Sahara mobile leak detection equipment.
This enabled the company to locate and repair 27 leaks along these pipelines despite quarantine restrictions, leading to a water volume recovery of 13.5 million liters per day (MLD) — enough to supply the water requirements of around 93,150 people.
Primary lines, or pipelines sized 400-mm in diameter and above, serve as major conduits of water to all served areas. Maynilad was able to conduct inspections of these pipes throughout the West Zone, with most leaks being discovered in Quezon City, Valenzuela, and Parañaque.
The photo shows Maynilad engineers assembling the Sahara equipment to inspect a 900-mm steel pipe along JP Laurel Street in Manila. Sahara uses an acoustic sensor that is inserted into a pipe while tethered to a monitoring system on the surface, allowing for audio and visual inspection inside pipes without interrupting water service to customers.