Maynilad Water Services Inc., a concessionaire in the West Zone, on Saturday bared its plan to spend PHP 16.5 billion on a non-revenue water (NRW) management program to reduce losses until 2027.
In a statement Maynilad said that it will spend roughly PHP10 billion on pipe repair projects over a five-year period.
The majority of the pipe replacement projects will take place in Manila, Quezon City, and Caloocan, where the majority of pipelines are outdated and in need of replacement.
According to Maynilad, other water loss reduction initiatives worth PHP5.84 billion include the company's meter management projects, the development of smaller district metering areas, leak repairs, and diagnostic activities.
The remaining amount, according to Maynilad, will be used for leak detection equipment and technical services.
Maynilad reduced its overall NRW level from 68% in 2006 to 43% in 2022, recovering around 413 million gallons per day.
Among the efforts that contributed to the recovered amount were the replacement of 3,083 kilometers of outdated pipes and the repair of nearly 460,000 pipe leaks over a 16-year period.
The company stated that approximately 80% of its water losses are caused by leaks (physical losses), while the remainder are caused by faulty water metering and illegal connections (commercial losses).
Maynilad aims to achieve an acceptable level of NRW of less than 25% of total water production by 2027.
Last Monday, Malacañang urged all national government agencies and instrumentalities to strictly adopt water conservation measures to avoid a possible supply constraint due to the coming El Niño.
On June 7, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed Memorandum Circular (MC) 22 with the authority of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., mandating all government offices to identify and implement "specific, quantifiable, and attainable" water conservation measures that will result in a 10% water volume reduction of their respective first quarter water consumption.
The Water Resources Management Office (WRMO), established by Executive Order 22 signed by Marcos on April 27, is the apex government body in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources tasked with harmonizing government efforts and overseeing the implementation of the Water Resources Management Plan to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water resources.
