West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) started the testing and checking of the equipment and processes of its Poblacion Water Treatment Plant in August 2023 in preparation for partial operations by year end.
The construction of the Php11-billion (about US$194 million) Poblacion Water Treatment Plant is now 80% complete. Maynilad has started the gradual commissioning of the plant to ensure that it can produce an initial 50 million liters per day (MLD) of potable water by December 2023.
Designed to produce 150 MLD at full capacity, the Poblacion Water Treatment Plant will help to improve water pressure and supply availability for Maynilad customers in Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, and Cavite.
This facility will help to enhance service reliability, as it will provide additional supply for customers in the south so their water service will not be affected despite raw water quality shifts in Laguna Lake, which have been occurring with more frequency owing to climate change effects. The Poblacion Water Treatment Plant is targeted for full operations by the first half of 2024.
At present, Maynilad has two treatment plants in Barangay Putatan, Muntinlupa, that draw water from Laguna Lake and produce a combined 300 MLD of water supply for around 1.7 million customers in the south. The Poblacion Water Treatment Plant will be Maynilad’s third facility to get raw water from this same source. Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base. It is the concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, which is composed of the cities of Manila (certain portions), Quezon City (certain portions), Makati (west of South Super Highway), Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon all in Metro Manila; the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario, all in Cavite Province.