Manila Water pushes for proper waste management

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Water has intensified its campaign toward proper wastewater management as it rolled out its Used Water Master Plan.

Under the program, the East Zone concessionaire targets to provide full sewer and sanitation coverage of its entire concession area in terms of used water by 2037.

“As of Nov. 31, 2018, Manila Water has installed an aggregate of 140,245 sewer connections within the East Zone since the start of its concession period, serving a total of 191,784 households,” the company said.

It added that from January to November, 5,135 new sewer connections were installed, benefiting  5,849 households, while a total of 855 kilometers of sewer pipes were cleaned within the same period.

As part of proper wastewater management efforts, Manila Water said its Taguig North and Marikina North Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), its latest waste water facilities, are currently two of its largest sewage treatment plants.

The Taguig North STP has a capacity to treat up to 75 million liters per day (MLD) of used water from communities in Taguig and the Makati CBD, while the Marikina North STP has the capacity of cleaning up to 100 MLD of used water and was constructed to specifically withstand flooding as it sits right at the banks of Marikina River.

“Both STPs employ Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR) biological treatment process, an innovation which enables facilities built on limited land areas to more effectively treat larger volumes of used water,” Manila Water said.

Manila Water currently operates and maintains 38 STPs and two septage treatment plants (SpTP), to ensure that used water collected from its customers is treated and cleaned before being discharged back into Metro Manila’s waterways.

“The discharge from these treatment plants has consistently passed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) effluent quality standards, averaging 99.8 percent compliance over that past five years as against the required 95 percent compliance set by the department,” Manila Water said.

It added that more treatment plants are being constructed and more sewer networks are being laid to further increase sewer coverage within its concession.

Among these projects under construction is the Ilugin Sewage Treatment Plant in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, the centerpiece of the North and South Pasig Sewer System Project.

“All three STPs have a combined capacity of treating up to 275 MLD of used water, which is targeted to benefit a total of 1.6 million population,” it added.

Moreover, Manila Water said it also continuously promotes its desludging services to its customers, offering scheduled cleaning of septic tanks with no additional charges.

From January to December 2018, Manila Water was able to empty 107,338 septic tanks, benefiting around 875,000 population in the entire East Zone.

Manila Water earlier reported a nine-month net income of P4.9 billion in 2018, the same level as the year before.

Revenues went up seven percent to P14.4 billion while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization inched up three percent to P9.4 billion amid higher billed volume and additional service connections.

Total billed volume rose four percent to 619.8 million cubic meters, driven by the strong top-line of the Manila concession and expansion of its international operating subsidiaries.