MANILA -The corporate social responsibility arm of distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has partnered with water concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. for reforestation initiatives in the Angat-Ipo watershed to help boost water supply in the National Capital Region and Cavite province.
According to One Meralco Foundation (OMF), it had provided a grant to support the reforestation and maintenance of a 25-hectare area in the watershed that currently has around 10,000 native trees.
The Angat-Ipo watershed helps supply water to Maynilad’s customers in the West Zone of Greater Metro Manila.
“While expanding our tree planting efforts to different parts of the country to respond to specific environmental objectives in the area, we equally recognize that the same program must contribute to the economic and social well-being of the same community that oversees One for Trees,” OMF president Jeffrey Tarayao said in a statement on Friday.
Tarayao was referring to OMF’s program that was launched in 2019 that aims to protect and conserve the country’s forests.
The program currently covers 2.1 million trees in Bulacan, Laguna, Aklan, Bohol, Butuan, Agusan del Norte and Bukidnon province. It also covers the programs of Meralco PowerGen Corp., the utility firm’s power generation unit.
Earlier this year, Meralco also partnered with Maynilad for the completion of 76 projects that were expected to require a combined 87 megawatts (MW) of new power capacity.
According to Meralco, the projects aim to provide power supply for the Anabu modular treatment plant in Cavite province and Maynilad’s other water facilities in Muntinlupa City.
In 2022, Meralco energized 41 Maynilad facilities, including pump stations, treatment plants and collection and distribution network facilities with a combined capacity of around 3 MW.
This resulted in about P2 million in annual savings for the water concessionaire, Meralco said.