West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) recently completed the upgrade of a sedimentation basin at La Mesa Treatment Plant (LMTP) 1 in Quezon City. This is part of the company’s overall PhP7-billion rehabilitation project for LMTP 1 and 2, which produce about 2,400 million liters of water per day for some nine million customers.
The 12 sedimentation basins at LMTP 1 are being fitted with tube settlers and sludge scrapers, increasing the plant’s capacity to address high turbidity in the raw water during the rainy season. “While there are 11 more basins to go, this is a significant milestone in the rehab project of La Mesa and our ability to respond to the challenges of climate change,†said Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Randolph T. Estrellado.
The rehabilitation of the 12 basins is being done in phases so that plant operations will not be disturbed even as the upgrades are being done. “We are upgrading one basin at a time, because we cannot shut down the plant and interrupt water service to give way to the rehabilitation work,†Estrellado added.
Aside from rehabilitating the sedimentation basins to improve treatment capacity, other upgrades being done at LMTP 1 and 2 are the retrofitting of structures for enhanced earthquake resiliency, and the automation of processes for more reliable operations. The rehab project is targeted for completion in 2020.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is the agent and contractor 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 workers install tube settlers and sludge scrapers at Basin 12 of La Mesa Treatment Plant 1, which will increase the plant’s capacity to address high turbidity in the raw water during the rainy season.