Aboitiz–led firm ready to deliver water to Davao

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City is set to get additional water supply as Aboitiz-led Apo Agua Infrastructura Inc. is set to deliver water from the Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP), with full operations targeted in the third quarter.

“We’re ready to deliver water now. We’re just waiting on acceptance. Before the end of the year, around the third quarter, we’ll be fully operational,” Apo Agua president Anna Lu said in an interview with The STAR.

Once fully operational, the project is expected to supply over 300 million liters water to the Davao City Water District (DCWD) using water sourced from Tamugan River.

Last April, the company said it could start partial operations within the month, but full operations would be pushed back to January next year.

This was because of the rains that triggered flash floods and pipelines that was damaged by another utility project.

The heavy flash floods also caused highly turbid water, which cannot be fed into the system to protect the filtration and water distribution network.

However, Lu said these concerns were already addressed to start commercial operations within the year.

“We took over from the previous contractor to expedite the works. We put in more resources to expedite the process,” she said.

Completion of the project was already delayed due to COVID restrictions and lockdowns.

Meanwhile, the company recently announced its Apo Agua Laboratory is now an accredited laboratory by the Department of Health (DOH) for Drinking Water Analysis.

The Apo Agua Laboratory conducts regular microbiological, physical and chemical testing of its water to ensure it delivers potable bulk water supply to DCWD.

The laboratory is also allowed to conduct other water tests parameters set by the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW).

It is also capable of doing additional tests, such as heavy metals analysis and other physical and chemical tests for acceptability aspects, are also performed in the in-house laboratory to verify the quality of the treated water.

“The accreditation of our in-house laboratory is a realization of our vision of developing innovative solutions that provide people access to life basic necessities and supports the growth and development of Davao City,” Lu said.

Additionally, Apo Agua also received a Certificate of Potability issued by the Davao City Health Office.

This assures local stakeholders that the water that will be produced from Apo Agua’s Water Treatment Plant will conform to the local and national standards and regulations of water quality for drinking and environmental purposes.

Apo Agua is introducing the pioneering water-energy nexus concept to the country for the first time through the DCBWSP.

It will tap the Tamugan River as its surface water source while the project’s water treatment facility will be powered by renewable energy sourced from a two-megawatt run-of-river hydroelectric power plant.

Raw water would first pass through the turbines to generate energy, which in turn will be used to power the water treatment facility and produce treated water.