Manila Water, a publicly-listed firm controlled by billionaire Enrique K. Razon Jr., assured their 7.6 million customers that its water is clean and safe despite high incidence of water turbidity due to rains. 

Regular equipment checks at the Cardona Treatment Plant. Manila Water’s water treatment plants followed a water quality envelope design that could handle high turbidity in raw water.

“Manila Water has already invested heavily in systems and technologies that are implemented in its water sources and treatment plants to mitigate the high turbidity brought by heavy rains,” said Jeric Sevilla, the director of the Corporate Communications Affairs Group of Manila Water. 

A Water Safety Plan has been implemented by the concessionaire, operated through its water treatment plants and distribution networks. 

The plan follows the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Water and Sanitation, approved by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewage System Regulatory Office and the Department of Health (DOH).

The treatment plants are designed to clean water with high turbidity as it undergoes standard coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection processes. 

In compliance with national drinking water standards, the Manila Water’s Laboratory Services (MWLS) annually collects, analyzes, and monitors its water supply. 

“Our state-of-the-art laboratory services see to it that the water quality in our distribution network passes the government standards for drinking water,” said Sevilla. 

Back in 2022, the MWLS was recognized for its 109.3 percent compliance rate, with 5,841 samples, the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW), exceeding the agency’s sample rate of 5,344.