Manila Water keeps lid on NRW

Razon-led Manila Water, which holds the east zone water concession, has successfully maintained its non-revenue water or NRW at an average of 13.51 percent as of last year, according to Jose Victor Emmanuel de Dios, president and CEO of Manila Water.

In a recent interview, De Dios said that Manila Water’s system loss averaged just 13.51 percent in 2024, a level considered healthy by World Bank standards, which classify NRW below 20 percent as low.

NRW refers to water lost due to leaks and illegal connections that are not billed to customers. Thus, water utilities have to ensure that they maintain low NRW levels so that more water reliably reaches customers. A one percent improvement in NRW can potentially save up to 16 million liters per day.

Manila Water has achieved low system losses through regular preventive maintenance, quick response to leaks and robust community engagement. These initiatives have helped the company keep its NRW at levels comparable to developed countries and among the lowest in Asia.

On the other hand, De Dios acknowledged that Manila Water has a much higher NRW for its non-east zone business entity known as Estate Water.

Estate Water was created in 2015 as a division of Manila Water Philippine Ventures or MWPV. It is a new business model that delivers water and wastewater services to leading property developers such as Ayala Land and SM, specifically for their horizontal and vertical estates. It also operates industrial estates such as the Cebu IT Park, specifically the operation and maintenance of its water system.

Another customer is Bonifacio Water Corp., which is owned by Ayala Land and the Campos Group. Manila Water, however, operates the water and wastewater system of BWC for the Bonifacio Global City.

According to De Dios,”So apart from the territorial operations that we have, we have a group, the Estate Water group that does water operations, whether it’s operating networks, wastewater, depending on what’s asked of us, of estates – horizontal estates or even vertical estates, like Ayala Land, it would be land developments. We have SM... these are estates. So that’s a group and there are multiple estates that we work with from the north all the way to the south. And so you can imagine that non-revenue losses are fairly high because these are small estates.”

Even so, Manila Water, according to De Dios, has low system losses through regular preventive maintenance and quick response to leaks.

It was interesting to learn that De Dios is a very hands-on executive. He likes going to the office, but he also personally goes out and checks on installation and repair projects.

“I am a very hands-on executive...very...” he says, even going out to “walk the line,” to see the service area and even visit some of the customers. He has not been able to do that lately as he has been traveling to attend various international investment and water technology forums and events.

Even so, he points out, “I’m paying attention to the projects, and I’m very sensitive. I have meetings once a week. My project teams will update me and I’ll give instructions... ‘make sure you don’t disrupt them (customers).”

He meets once a week with the service areas “and we go very granular sometimes, right-of-way, contractor, delays... alam ko yan...to the extent that I can. I sit down with the service area heads once a month and we go through their numbers and how we can improve service...and if possible I go to the site...to Clark, Boracay, to Laguna... very hands-on.”

De Dios further admits that “I love going to the site and taking a look...unannounced now. I see, if it’s not clean, if it’s not safe... we’re paying attention very closely... In fact, sometimes I’ll drive myself there... they don’t like it.”

He also likes to visit the La Mesa Eco Park which they have taken over, “It’s an oasis in the city.” Manila Water has contracted CCI, a conservationist consulting firm to take a look at the nature park and to do a survey of the flora and fauna.

Outside of his work, De Dios enjoys running, similar to bankers TG Limcaoco of Bank of the Philippine Islands and Ed Francisco of BDO Capital.

Jocot, as he is informally known, started running in high school, but has done only one marathon so far. He prefers short races. Aside from running, he also bikes, rides a motorcycle, swims, regularly goes to the gym and hikes.

At 60 years old, De Dios is very energetic while being very spiritual at the same time. He even wears a prayer bracelet blessed by Father Orbos. He reveals that this coming September, he and his wife plan to do the famous Camino de Santiago in Spain, not the entire stretch, but the shorter version where he also plans to enjoy the wine along the way.

“I’m spiritual, I’m very reflective, I pray to one god. I’m very prayerful, I guess,” he admits.

Manila Water’s top executive is also an art collector, with his two recent acquisitions of paintings from an Australian painter and another from a Burmese artist that he plans to install in his office in Quezon City.

During his downtime, he likes to listen to music and watch videos...of houses, architecture. “I like watching.. I love watching videos. I think I’m a frustrated architect or designer. I mean I like looking at houses or watching YouTube videos of houses, gardens.”

Jocot is a father of three girls and one boy. His two older daughters have graduated and are already working. Another daughter is about to graduate, while his only son is set to go to college in Toronto, Canada.