Group offers P10 billion project to source water from Angat Dam

MANILA, Philippines — A local consortium is set to submit a P10 billion unsolicited proposal to use excess water from the Angat hydroelectric power plant as a source of additional water supply.

The joint venture of ITP-Maharlika Bulk Water Co. proposed to supply about 800 million liters of raw water per day to optimize the excess water supply used for irrigation. ITP is the contractor of the P5.8-billion Balog-Balog storage dam. It was also previously involved with the Agus VI hydroelectric power plant in Mindanao.

ITP-Maharlika president Orville Roque said the first segment of the project aims to deliver 250 MLD of raw water to the existing Ipo Dam by 2022 to meet the short-term domestic water supply shortage.

The second segment, on the other hand, comprises 550 MLD of raw water  which will come from an artificial basin along the Angat River between the  Ipo Dam and Matictic Bridge.

“Of the 1,800 MLD allocation for NIA (National Irrigation Administration), only 600 MLD are being used, so we want to maximize the system by creating an impounding dam,” Roque said.

The project will be presented to the MWSS board for approval and will go through the National Economic and Development Authority- Investment Coordination Committee for  original proponent status and will be subjected to the swiss challenge.

If approved, both concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. would buy raw water from the source to be treated for consumption, the consortium said.

The Norzagaray-Angat water supply optimization project aims to augment metro Manila’s water demand requirements. It is among the short-term and medium-term water source projects of the government which include the 150 MLD Putatan, 100 MLD Cardona, 188 MLD Sumag, 50 MLD Rizal Wellfield, 80 MLD, Calawis Wawa, 100 MLD Putatan 3, and 600 MLD Kaliwa Dam.

Meanwhile, AMA Group Holdings said it was accelerating the construction of a 300 MLD world-class water treatment plant along Laguna Lake as part of efforts to help address the current water supply crisis in Metro Manila.

AMA chairman Amable Aguiluz said Laguna Lake, the country’s biggest freshwater resource located close to the heart of the national capital region, was already being harnessed by both Maynilad in Putatan, Muntinlupa City and Manila Water in Cardona, Rizal.

The project is would be able to bring the much needed water supply augmentation within 10 months from its planned plant in an area close enough to the metro area.

He said he would work out the required arrangements both with the Laguna Lake Development Authority and the MWSS in response to President Duterte’s call to address the water supply  problem on a long- term basis.

For this project, AMA Group is partnering with Ion Exchange, a Singapore-based company with projects all over Asia, the latest of which is a $200-million Sri Lanka water treatment plant.

AMA Water also tapped Aquagen Technologies Inc. (ATI) as its local technical advisor for the project.

Aguiluz is confident that AMA Water is well positioned to deliver clean affordable drinking water to the National Capital Region way ahead of other planned solutions likethe  Kaliwa Dam which is scheduled to be  operational by 2022.

Aguiluz is recognized as the father of IT education in the Philippines. As an educator, he has always advocated quality affordable education for all.

He now intends to provide every Filipino household safe, clean, adequate and potable drinking water.