West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. said it is on track to reach its goal of reducing its non-revenue water (NRW) level to 29 percent by the end of the year.
Ronaldo C. Padua, Maynilad’s vice president and head of water supply operations, said reaching the said NRW rate, which refers to water lost from the system due to leakages, is critical to the preparedness of the water concessionaire for El Niño.
‘But we are only on the supply side. We cannot do it alone. We need the support of the public on the demand side and also the government,’ Padua said, referring to the looming super El Niño which could drastically cut water levels in Luzon’s major dams.
Last January, Maynilad reported that it reduced its NRW level to 30.7 percent in 2025 from 38.4 percent by end-2024.
The company has already undertaken rehabilitation and improvement works at its La Mesa facilities over several years costing some P10 billion, as part of its contract with the government.
The major rehabilitation and improvement works cover treatment improvements, enhanced water recovery and raw water augmentation systems, additional raw water storage, and related facility upgrades. The P10 billion amount covers completed and ongoing works.
Among the key improvements is the upgrading of La Mesa Water Treatment Plant from an original raw water turbidity design capability of around 300 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) to a peak design capability of 2,000 NTU. Similar improvement works are ongoing at its second treatment plant to raise its treatment capability to the same level.
The enhancements expand the range of raw water conditions that the facilities can manage. The Angat-Ipo system has experienced episodes of substantially higher turbidity over the years, including levels reaching around 1,800 NTU in 2012.
Maynilad has also enhanced its water recovery and raw water augmentation systems.
Once all three systems are fully operational, they are designed to provide a combined recovery and augmentation capacity of approximately 125 million to 170 million liters per day. Recovery Systems 1 and 3 are already operational, while Recovery System 2 is targeted for completion in December this year.
Another key component is the conversion of former sludge lagoons into dedicated raw water reservoirs. Lagoons 3 and 4 currently provide approximately 133 million liters of storage, equivalent to about two-thirds of the planned 200-million-liter total capacity.
The reservoirs provide an additional operating buffer during periods of reduced Angat-Ipo inflow or adjustments in raw water allocation, giving Maynilad greater flexibility in managing available raw water during dry periods.
Maynilad’s continuing rehabilitation and process improvements at La Mesa include enhancements to sedimentation, filtration, sludge management, monitoring and control systems, as well as the replacement of aging equipment and other facility improvements.
‘We continue to invest in La Mesa because water supply resilience depends not only on how much raw water is available, but also on how efficiently we can treat, recover and manage the water already within our system,’ Maynilad COO Christopher Jaime T. Lichauco said.
‘These improvements give us additional operating flexibility as raw water conditions change and support our continuing preparations for potentially drier conditions associated with El Niño.’