QUEZON CITY, 11 February (PIA) - West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. is allocating P1.4 billion for pipe replacement projects in selected parts of Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Valenzuela, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite City in the province of Cavite.
The P1.4 billion is part of Maynilad’s P2.2 billion fund for its Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Program to further reduce water loses.
According to Maynilad, around 80 percent of their losses are due to leaks and illegal connections (physical losses) while the rest are losses due to inaccurate water metering (commercial losses).
Meanwhile, some P665 million will be used for the company's meter management projects, establishment of smaller District Metered Areas (DMA), leak repairs and diagnostic activities. The rest of the budget will be used for leak detection equipment and technical services.
“We still need to invest in our NRW Reduction Program because we have yet to reach our economically optimal NRW level,” said Maynilad President and CEO Ricky P. Vargas.
Maynilad was able to slash its NRW level to 35 percent in 2013 from 41 percent in 2012. This translates to a water volume recovery of over 143 million liters per day (MLD) of potable water, which is enough to serve the supply requirements of almost 700,000 individuals.
Based on its current water demand, water supply and cost of recovering water losses, Maynilad has projected its optimum NRW level at 20 percent. The World Bank recommends that NRW should be less than 25 percent of the total water produced.
The economically optimal level of NRW is achieved once the marginal cost of reducing NRW exceeds the marginal benefits (water savings). (MAYNILAD/RJB/JEG/PIA-NCR)
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