SMC to invest in water technologies, vows to finish 2025 sustainability project

San Miguel Corporation (SMC), in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) call on the need to improve the collection and treatment of wastewater and safely reuse it, committed to fulfill its water sustainability project dubbed as “Project 50X2025,” a move that will be supported by its plan to invest on new water technologies.

This move was supported and acclaimed by Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

SMC President Ramon S. Ang said in a statement that the company, the largest conglomerate in the Philippines, has already saved four billion liters of water equivalent to the daily use of about 137,000 households a year after the project was launched. It aims at reducing its water consumption across its entire operations by 50 percent by the year 2025.

“It is laudable that among its future goals would be to reduce its operational water use by 50 percent across its business, employing measures that include water recycling, conservation and rainwater harvesting to meet its target by 2025,” MWSS Administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco said.

Coinciding with the World Water Day last year, SMC started to reduce its water consumption by 14 percent across its food, beverage, packaging, power, fuels and petrochemicals, and infrastructure businesses.

According to Ang, the first year of implementing the project has been about instilling a culture of conservation among the employees, and improving water systems and processes, where possible.

“From now through 2020, our goal is to cut as much as we can by improving water management, utilizing rainwater harvesting, and increasing the amount of water we recycle and re-use,” he added.

Ang said that the company is also studying new water technologies that it could invest in, after 2020, in order to fully realize its ambitious 2025 goal.

In addition, part of the long-term sustainability project is to stop the usage and production of plastic bottled water to help reduce the plastic waste.

SMC is expected to completely get rid of this business in the middle of this year, when excess inventory in the market would have completely depleted.

"No effort is too small. In many of our facilities, we’ve fitted things like pre-rinse spray taps and low-flush toilets or percussive taps. We regularly monitor for leaks and we’re educating our employees on the importance of conservation. We’re looking to building cisterns and systems to collect rainwater,” Ang said.

Meanwhile, Velasco also lauded the Luzon Clean Water Development Corp., a consortium of San Miguel Holdings and K-Water Resources Corp. for being ahead of schedule in its project implementation in the North Zone sector.

Luzon Clean Water is the third MWSS concessionaire undertaking the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project (BBWSP) which will provide safe and reliable water supply to some 541,000 households in 24 water districts or 569 barangays in Bulacan, the north zone — at the lowest cost per cubic meter anywhere in the country.

The project is proceeding ahead of schedule with the expected completion of the first phase amounting to R24.4 billion in October. (MBM)