Manila Water to invest over ₱115 billion for STPs

Ayala-owned Manila Water Co. expects to spend more than 1115 billion in the next 19 years for its used or waste water treatment facilities as part of its long-time effort to spare Manila Bay from sewage pollution.

Manila Water group head for corporate strategic affairs, Jeric T. Sevilla, said they have an initial four-year 138.4-billion budget for the treatment and disposal of used water for its East Zone (Metro Manila) customers. The 1115 billion will cover investments until 2037.

Sevilla said that since the start of the Manila Water concession in 1997, when they had to work with just one sewage treatment plant (STP), they have invested 133 billion in the last 21 years to increase the number of STPs from one to 38 as of end-2017.

But, he admits there is still a long way to go to cover a population that is connected to a sewerage system since the 38 STPs and the two septage treatment plants only have a capacity of 310 million liters of waste water per day (MLD).

“Full coverage (will take time) that’s why we have 1115 billion (investments) until 2037," said Sevilla. “We plan to do more,” he added, and they expect rapid expansion of its used water treatment facilities for “greater environment impact”.

Including water supply investment, Manila Water has a programmed spending of 1197.8 billion from 2018 until 2037. This capital expenditure, which has been approved by regulators last year, includes the 182.6-billion investment for water supply such as the laying of new water lines and rehabilitation of existing water facilities.

For the used water projects, these will be done in three phases, and seven projects worth 138.4 billion already have the go-signal and should be completed by 2022.

As of end-2018, Manila Water’s used water facilities cover only 15 percent of sewerage requirement or 553,061 of the East Zone population, while 1.3 million have desludging services for a total 112,836 septic tanks.

By 2037, they expect 99 percent sewer cover- age after increasing the number of STPs from 38 to 53. This will bring capacity up from 310 MLD to 950 MLD, enough to service a population of 7,461,168 by then.

Sevilla said they face some challenges. These are: difficulty in finding and acquiring appropriate location for treatment plants and pumping stations especially in a highly urbanized municipality; limitation in construction on narrow roads and busy streets; long and tedious process of acquiring right of ways and/or permits; lack of coordination of project execution amongst national agencies; and lack of willingness of customer to avail of desludging services and connection to sewer network.

Other issues they expect to have to resolve are the high volume of solid waste intrusion, and uncontrollable discharge from residential, commercial and industrial establishments.

Manila Water, however, has already implemented programs and have mitigating plans to counter any issues, such as: implementation of intensive

IEC and census; regular preventive maintenance for hotspots; rehabilitation of sewer network system; implementation of innovative solutions and improvisation; synergize with local government units and national government assistance to implement and align projects; and development of pre-treatment standards for non-domestic discharges.

In a statement Friday, Manila Water said its 1115-billion used water master plan will “ensure full sewerage service coverage of the East Zone by 2037” since the plan will cover 11 sub-catchment areas.

The company is currently constructing the 100-MLD Ilugin Sewage Treatment Plant for the North and South Pasig, which will cover 765,000 households once completed by 2020.

Listed Manila Water’s declared net income as of end-September 2018 was at 14.9 billion, up four percent year-on-year. They had capital expenditures amounting to 16 billion during the period.