PROJECT preparation for the Bigte-Novaliches Aqueduct 7, a delivery system for water supplied from Angat dam, will go forward after the recent approval of a $126.02-million loan by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to the corporate office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
In a statement, the MWSS said the loan is for the expanded Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project.
The Bigte-Novaliches Aqueduct 7 will be constructed after Tunnel 4, another ADB-financed project, comes onstream.
The MWSS said that Tunnel 4 will be fully operational by July and is now in the final stages of completion. It was partly operational during the enhanced community quarantine.
According to the MWSS, the new aqueduct will have a capacity of 1,500 million liters per day and is set to replace the old and leaking aqueduct numbers 1 and 2, which are capable of delivering 300 million liters per day.
“The higher designed capacity provides a substantial safety factor to the water security of Metro Manila and the flexibility in the repairing other aqueduct systems,” the MWSS said.
With the new aqueduct, the MWSS said it will ensure that the water released from the Umiray-Angat-Ipo system will flow more readily to the various treatment plants of the capital region’s water concessionaires.
The ADB has financed a number of projects to improve MWSS conveyance systems such as the Angat Water Supply Optimization Project, the Manila South Water Distribution Project, the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project, and the ongoing Angat Water Transmission Improvement Project. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
