Maynilad told to bring down water losses

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. to reduce its non-revenue water (NRW) from a high 56 percent to 50 percent as part of the government’s water conservation effort.

New DENR head Horacio C. Ramos said they compelling Maynilad to bring down its water losses to between 50 percent to 53 percent from its current level of 56 percent as part of measures to mitigate the ongoing drought.

A reduction in Maynilad’s NRW is calculated by the National Water Resources Board to save up to 82 million liters of water.

Maynilad’s NRW is quite high compared to East Zone concessionaire Manila Water Co.’s NRW which has been reduced to 15.8 percent. This high NRW is part of the reason for its higher water tariff compared to the Ayala-led East Zone concessionaire.

Maynilad is controlled by the Consunji owned DMCI and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

Both water concessionaires, however, are also being urged by the DENR to improve their backwash water recovery which could save up to 39 million cubic meters of waters.

The DENR is banking on Manila Water alone, however, to generate water savings of 14 million cubic meters from a reduction of its current water pressure of 30 psi to an acceptable 22 to 26 psi.

In the case of Maynilad, a reduction in its water pressure is expected to result in a loss of water service to around 11 percent of its service area.