West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) has been reopening existing deep wells and constructing new ones to generate more water supply in time for El Niño. The company expects to produce around 32 MLD (million liters per day) of additional supply from more than 60 deep wells in different parts of its concession.
Maynilad is spending Php1 billion to reactivate deep wells in Caloocan, Quezon City, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Bacoor, Cavite City, Kawit, and Imus. The expected 32-MLD additional supply from this project is enough to supply the water requirements of some 175,000 customers.
To date, Maynilad is already operating eight of these reactivated or new deep wells. By end of July, Maynilad’s total yield from deep wells in 19 locations will be increased to 12.38 MLD. It is closely coordinating with the relevant government units and several homeowners’ associations so it can reopen more deep wells in the succeeding months.
While groundwater is not a sustainable source of water supply, the reactivation of deep wells is allowed during times of contingency, such as during expected supply shortages due to El Niño.
“The number of deep wells we can reactivate in the West Zone is limited, because our proximity to Manila Bay makes groundwater reserves salty and unusable in some areas. However, we have found some viable deep wells, and their yield will add to our water supply should El Niño further affect the availability of water from traditional sources,” said Maynilad President and CEO Ramoncito S. Fernandez.
The reactivation of the deep wells is one Maynilad’s mitigating measures for a possible supply crunch due to El Niño. Its other supply augmentation measures include the commissioning of modular treatment plants that will draw supply from rivers, the sustained production of potable reused water, and the recovery of water from repairing pipe leaks and replacing old pipelines.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is a concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (certain portions), Quezon City (certain portions), 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 Cavite Province.
PHOTO CAPTION: Maynilad is facilitating the reactivation and construction of several deep wells within its concession area to generate more supply for distribution.