Maynilad builds new central laboratory

MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc. is building a new structure to house an expanded “central laboratory” inside its La Mesa compound in Quezon City to monitor and test the quality of water supply within Metro Manila’s west zone, its concession area.

“Ensuring good water quality is of paramount importance to Maynilad. Hence, we continuously invest in our infrastructure to ensure that the water we deliver to our over 9 million customers is potable,” said Maynilad President and Chief Executive Officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez in a statement.

Maynilad said its central lab is equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instruments that allow its chemists to study compounds in the water samples drawn from over 1,000 sampling points throughout the west zone.

The new P70.4-million facility has the added capability to monitor more compounds that are part of the new quality parameters set by the Department of Health’s updated “Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water.”

Maynilad said the expanded central Lab could sustain its multiple accreditations. It obtained environmental laboratory accreditation from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2015, and was conferred with the ISO 17025:2005 by the Department of Trade and Industry- Philippine Accreditation Bureau. It is also accredited by the Health department as a laboratory for drinking water analysis.

The company earlier said it is setting aside P9 billion this year for capital expenditures. Two-thirds of the capex or about P6.5 billion will be spent on the company’s infrastructure projects, while P1.7 billion will go to wastewater management projects to increase sewerage coverage and maintain network reliability.

Maynilad is an agent and contractor of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the west zone of the greater Manila area. Its coverage spans certain areas in Manila, Quezon City and Makati City. It also covers Caloocan, Parañaque, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon.

Outside Metro Manila, the company covers the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario — all in Cavite province.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. —