Maynilad upgrades facilities, ready for El Niño

MANILA — Water concessionaire Maynilad assures its customers it is ready for the expected strong El Niño in the coming months. 

It reported spending nearly P10 billion to improve its La Mesa facility in Quezon City in recent years.

Ronaldo Padua, Maynilad Vice President and Head of Water Supply Operations, said it has upgraded the La Mesa Treatment Plant 1 and improvement activities are also ongoing for plant 2. The works help improve the quality of the water.

Maynilad has also enhanced its water recovery and raw water augmentation systems and has built the Sludge Treatment Facility. More reservoirs were also added to provide additional operating buffer during periods of reduced Angat-Ipo inflow.

He said though he can’t promise zero service interruption, he said there is enough supply.

Padua also added that Maynilad has diversified its sources of water. Before it relied solely its water supply from the Angat dam. Now that has been reduced to 83 percent. This means that a drop of water level at Angat will not necessarily lead to water service interruption. Other sources include the Laguna lake, modular treatment plants, deep wells, and others.

He said they are ready for any potential impact of extreme weather, but urges residents to also use water responsibly. He said consumers can try to recycle water for other uses like cleaning the floor and to always turn off the faucet when not in use.