Maynilad shells out P10B for La Mesa dam upgrades
MANILA, Philippines — Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) has spent nearly P10 billion to rehabilitate its La Mesa dam facilities as it gears up for drier weather brought by the super El Niño.
The Pangilinan-led group said it has been conducting rehabilitation work over several years, allowing it to upgrade some key water infrastructure.
READ: Maynilad expedites P7.9B upgrade for La Mesa Treatment Plants
These include the upgrading of La Mesa Water Treatment Plant 1 from an original raw water turbidity design capability of around 300 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) to a peak design capability of 2,000 NTU.
The company said similar efforts are being undertaken to boost the treatment capability of water treatment plant 2.
Maynilad has also strengthened its water recovery and raw water augmentation systems. Once fully activated, its recovery and augmentation capacity would reach 125 to 170 million liters per day.
To ensure adequate supply during an extreme dry season, Maynilad said it had converted former sludge lagoons into dedicated raw water reservoirs. Two of these lagoons can already store about 133 million liters.
Other activities are focused on sedimentation, filtration, sludge management, monitoring and control systems, as well as the replacement of aging equipment and other facility improvements.
“We continue to invest in La Mesa because water supply resilience depends not only on how much raw water is available, but also on how efficiently we can treat, recover and manage the water already within our system,” Maynilad chief operating officer Christopher Jaime Lichauco said in a statement on Tuesday.
READ: Maynilad eyes more supply with P686-M raw water basin
“These improvements give us additional operating flexibility as raw water conditions change and support our continuing preparations for potentially drier conditions associated with El Niño,” he added.
The group is the water and wastewater services provider for the west zone, covering 17 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila and Cavite. INQ
