West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) is spending around Php16.5 billion from 2023 to 2027 to further reduce its water losses.
Of the said amount, over Php10 billion will go to pipe replacement projects throughout its concession area over the five-year period, with majority of the projects to be undertaken in Manila, Quezon City and Caloocan where most pipelines are already old and need to be replaced.
Meanwhile, some Php5.84 billion will be used for the company’s meter management projects, establishment of smaller District Metered Areas (DMA), leak repairs and diagnostic activities. The rest of the budget will be used for leak detection equipment and technical services.
From 68% in 2006, Maynilad was able to slash its total NRW level to 43% by 2022, which translates to a water volume recovery of 413 million liters per day (MLD). This, after replacing 3,083 kilometers of old pipelines and repairing almost 460,000 pipe leaks over the 16-year period. Around 80% of Maynilad’s water losses are due to leaks (physical losses) while the rest are losses due to inaccurate water metering and illegal connections (commercial losses).
“We have dedicated more resources toward the reduction of losses so we can speed up water volume recovery in time for El Niño. We hope that we continue to get the support of the relevant government agencies and local government units in facilitating the release of permits and other requirements needed for our NRW projects,” said Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph T. Estrellado.
The World Bank recommends that NRW should be less than 25% of the total water produced. Maynilad targets to reach that level by 2027.