Manila Water completes Marikina sewage treatment plant

Manila Water Company Inc. on Tuesday said it was bringing online the Philippines’ largest sewage treatment plant in Marikina City, which is part of a P6-billion sewerage system package.

The concessionaire for the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage Systems’ (MWSS) east zone said the Marikina North Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), which cost P2.7 billion, is in the Balubad Resettlement in Barangay Nangka.

“Built with world-class design and technology, this project is a major milestone in our efforts to improve health and sanitation in the east zone,” said Geodino Carpio, director of Manila Water’s corporate operations group.

The project also helps “in the preservation of rivers by ensuring domestic used water, from the barangays it will serve, is no longer a pollutant when it is returned to our waterways,” Carpio said in a statement.

 22-km sewer network

The STP is designed to treat daily 100 million liters of used water conveyed through a

22-kilometer sewer network coming from over 500,000 residents from nine barangays in Marikina City and five barangays in San Mateo, Rizal.

The company said treated effluent from the STP—which will be discharged directly to the adjacent Marikina River—is categorized as “Class C”, meaning safe for recreational water activities and marine life based on the standards followed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Also, the STP that occupies a 2-hectare land identified for this specific use with the help of the local government was built 26.5 meters above ground level in anticipation of frequent flooding in the area.

Further, the STP is equipped with sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technology, a cost-efficient and space-saving innovation, as well as high-efficiency turbo blowers engineered to lessen the facility’s carbon footprint.

Manila Water said the sewer network was constructed through microtunneling, wherein pipes are jacked across the ground from one entry pit, minimizing impact on traffic and inconvenience to the residents.

In the first semester of 2016, Manila Water racked up a net income of P3.14 billion, increasing 3 percent year-on-year from P3.04 billion, based on unaudited performance results.

Revenues went up 4 percent year-on-year to P8.77 billion from P8.45 billion.

The company’s main business, which is the east zone concession with the MWSS, chalked up a 5-percent rise in delivery to reach 239 million cubic meters (mcm).