MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc. on Monday inaugurated the Putatan Water Treatment Plant 2 (PWTP2), its second treatment facility that sources raw water from Laguna Lake.
The PWTP2, which started operations on April 1, produces 100 million liters per day (MLD) of potable water to Maynilad customers in Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite.
The facility will increase capacity in phases until it reaches the 150-MLD capacity later this year. Once PWTP2 operates at full capacity, Maynilad will temporarily shut down Putatan Water Treatment Plant 1 (PWTP1) for rehabilitation and upgrades.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, Maynilad chairman, said PWTP2 “is a vital component of Maynilad’s plan to develop alternative sources of water to ensure long-term water security for its customers.” He noted that it is the company’s aim to lessen dependence on Angat Dam as primary source of raw water.
In a statement, Maynilad President and Chief Executive Officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez, said that the company constructed the new facility to address the growing demand for water in the West Zone.
“Maynilad has been tapping Laguna Lake as source since 2009 when our first treatment facility in Muntinlupa became operational. In anticipation of the growing demand for water, we constructed this additional facility which will not only increase available supply but also enable us to better address the variable quality of the raw water coming from Laguna Lake,” Mr. Fernandez said.
Mr. Pangilinan said Maynilad intends to build two more water treatment plants.
“We want to build two more plants like this…Our target is to build up to 600 MLD,” Mr. Pangilinan said. “We want to build plant number 3 within the term of President Duterte. That’s our commitment.”
According to Maynilad, PWTP2 uses a multi-stage process of Dissolved Air Flotation, Biological Aerated Filter, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and chlorination to treat the water from Laguna Lake and convert it to a product that complies with the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) of the Department of Health.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is calling for a cleanup of Laguna Lake, which Maynilad says it is willing to support.
“Sinabi naman ng DENR and Laguna Lake [Development Authority] na kailangang linisin ’yung lake (The DENR and LLDA said that we have to clean up the lake). For us, whatever we can do to help clean up Laguna Lake, we will do so,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
