MANILA Water, the private water contractor and agent of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the East Zone, said it is constructing more treatment plants and more sewer networks to further increase sewer coverage within its concession area.
Manila Water said construction is ongoing in the Ilugin sewage treatment plant (STP) 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 million liters per day (MLD) of used water, targeted to benefit a total of 1.6 million people.
The company’s statement was released a day after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) held its first-ever stakeholders’ meeting in preparation for the massive rehabilitation of Manila Bay.
As part of the rehabilitation, the DENR targets to make the waters of Manila Bay, particularly fronting the Bay Walk along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, between the Manila Yacht Club and US Embassy, safe for bathing by preventing the direct discharge of untreated wastewater in three esteros (waterways) leading out to that particular portion of Manila Bay.
This means reducing the coliform level to conform with an “SB” water-quality standard, which requires that the water supply must not have more than 100 most probable number per 100 milliliters. The highest coliform level recorded by the DENR in Manila Bay is 333 million MPN/100 ml.
MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco, during a press conference after the stakeholders’ meeting, said he will ask the two private water contractors and agents of MWSS to step up measures in compliance with a decade-old Supreme Court continuing mandamus ordering various government agencies to restore Manila Bay’s water to its pristine state.
Manila Water said it continues to implement proper wastewater management with its service area consistent with its Used Water Master Plan.
The company targets full sewer and sanitation coverage of its entire concession area by 2037 as far as its used water service is concerned.
In a statement, Manila Water said as of November 30, 2018, it 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.
“From January to November 2018, 5,135 new sewer connections were installed, benefitting 5,849 households, while a total of 855 kilometers of sewer pipes were cleaned within the same period,” Manila Water said.
The latest additions to the company’s numerous wastewater facilities are two of its largest sewage treatment plants namely the Taguig North and Marikina North Sewage Treatment Plants.
The Taguig North STP has a capacity to treat up to 75 MLD of used water from communities in Taguig and the Makati Central Business District. It was constructed underneath the Liwasan ng Kagitingan at Kalikasan, a public nature park that showcases milestones in Philippine History with seven mural installations created by artist Jose Giroy.
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 the Marikina River. Both STPs employ Sequence Batch Reactor biological treatment process, an innovation that enables facilities built on limited land areas to more effectively treat larger volumes of used water.
Manila Water currently operates and maintains 38 STPs and two septage treatment plants, to ensure that used water collected from its customers is treated and cleaned before being discharged back into Metro Manila’s waterways.
The company said the discharged water from these treatment plants has consistently passed DENR effluent-quality standards, averaging 99.8-percent compliance over the past five years as against the required 95-percent compliance set by the agency.
Meanwhile, Manila Water also continuously promotes its desludging services to its customers, offering scheduled cleaning of septic tanks with no additional charges.
In helping rehabilitate Metro Manila’s major three-river system—Marikina, San Juan and Pasig Rivers—Manila Water said the help and cooperation of all concerned sectors are necessary.
Designed to promote proper used-water management, the company launched its advocacy program in 2012 dubbed “Toka Toka” to encourage each individual to accomplish four simple tasks, or “toka” to help revive the city’s waterways, namely proper solid-waste management and segregation; active desludging of household septic tank every five years; connecting to existing sewer lines; and educating the community on proper wastewater management and on the environment.