Maynilad plugs 28,000 pipe leaks

MANILA, Philippines — West zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. plugged more than 28,000 pipe leaks in the first half of the year, saving about 198 million liters of water per day.

Maynilad said the amount of water saved from fixing pipe leaks was enough to supply the requirements of up to 198,000 people within its concession area.

The utility firm said it has repaired 523,111 leaks since 2007 when Maynilad inherited one of the oldest pipe networks in Asia upon the reprivatization of the west zone.

“Maynilad aims to repair 50,000 pipe leaks throughout its concession in 2024 – its highest-ever annual target,” the company said yesterday.

Maynilad emphasized that repair of leaks in its distribution system is a major component of its non-revenue water (NRW) management program, which seeks to reduce physical and commercial water losses.

For 2024 alone, Maynilad said it allotted P791 million for leakage control.

“The company has increased its manpower complement to deploy more teams to conduct leak detection activities simultaneously over a wider area and to speed up the fixing of leaks,” Maynilad said.

The company noted that it started using artificial intelligence to detect pipe leaks and monitor pipe conditions more efficiently, allowing it to replace pipelines even before a breakage occurs.

“Bringing down water losses is a task that we take seriously – the reason why we have dedicated more resources and tapped new technologies to find and plug leaks in the system,” Ryan Jamora, Maynilad’s Central NRW division head, said.

“The public can help in this effort by reporting pipe leaks and illegal connections to Maynilad,” Jamora added.

Maynilad also undertakes network diagnostics, establishment of district metered areas, replacement of old water meters, selective pipe replacement, installation of pressure-regulating valves and anti-water pilferage drive as part of its NRW management program.