Maynilad studies treated used water for drinking

MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc. is studying whether used water can be purified to make it potable, it said on Thursday, citing successful projects in Singapore, South Africa, Namibia, and the United States.

“Water is a scarce resource. Given the growing population’s increasing demand for water plus the strain on existing sources due to climate change, we should consider using previously untapped sources — including used water — to augment supply. There are now reliable and effective treatment technologies that make it a viable option,” said Maynilad President and Chief Executive Officer Ramoncito S. Fernandez in a media release.

Instead of purifying raw water from rivers, Maynilad is planning to purify some of its treated used water, which is just discharged to rivers by its sewage treatment plants (STPs). The company will be using its new modular treatment plants, or ModTPs, for this purpose.

Roel S. Espiritu, Maynilad’s quality, sustainability and resiliency head, said the treated used water discharged by STPs is a more reliable water source than raw river water. It is climate-independent and the quality is controlled and less variable, he added.

“If we use the river directly as source, trash and other pollutants thrown into it by surrounding communities could drastically change the river water’s quality. This could affect the volume output of a ModTP, which has to adjust its treatment parameters with sudden shifts in the raw water quality,” he said.

Maynilad said it similarly treats raw water from Laguna Lake by using a sewage treatment method for initial purification. The lake water then passes through more treatment processes before conversion to drinking water.

Laguna Lake is the company’s alternative raw water source since 2010, allowing it to reduce over-reliance on Angat Dam, to serve customers south of Metro Manila.

Maynilad’s ModTPs use treatment technology from Israel, which leads in water innovation, through a multi-stage process that includes pressurized media filtration, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and chlorine disinfection to convert used water to drinking water.

Mr. Fernandez said: “By including used water to our supply source options, we have enhanced capability to generate more water whenever existing supplies run short.”

Maynilad is coordinating with government agencies for the latest initiative.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has a 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.

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