West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) recently commissioned its two new Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) located along Legal and Grant Streets in Project 8, Quezon City. The two facilities can treat up to 1,030 cubic meters per day (CMD) of wastewater, which would benefit 1,685 households in the area.
These facilities—along with Maynilad’s STP at Congressional Avenue that was commissioned earlier this year—will improve sewerage services for more than 12,200 people in Quezon City and help clear the San Juan River Basin, which empties into the Manila Bay.
The wastewater generated by households and establishments in the area used to be treated by communal septic tanks, which were first constructed by the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation in the 1950s. Maynilad invested over P91.7 million to upgrade these communal septic tanks into three new STPs.
With the help of a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) technology, Maynilad was able to build an STP despite the small land area available for use in this densely populated area. The SBR provides high-quality treatment to ensure that wastewater discharged conforms to environmental standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“Maynilad knows the utmost importance of maintaining the health of communities and the environment through proper wastewater management. The construction of these new STPs in Quezon City is just part of our long-term plan to expand sewerage services to the entire West Zone,†said Maynilad President and CEO Ricky Vargas.
By 2013, Maynilad aims to construct a total of 15 STPs in the San Juan River Basin area with a combined capacity of around 72,000 CMD, benefiting more than 550,000 people. Five more STPs with a combined capacity of 410,000 CMD serving around 2 million people will also be built by 2016.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is a concessionaire of the MWSS for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (all but portions of San Andres & Sta Ana), Quezon City (west of San Juan River, West Avenue, EDSA, Congressional, Mindanao Avenue, the northern part starting from the Districts of the Holy Spirit & Batasan Hills), Makati (west of South Super Highway), 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 the Cavite Province.