MANILA – The improvement of non-revenue water (NRW), along with diversification of water sources, allowed Maynilad Water Services to ensure continued service to its customers amid the impact of El Niño, an executive said Thursday.
Non-revenue water (NRW) is the treated water that does not provide revenue because it is lost through leaks in aging pipes, illegal connections, and faulty water meters.
As of the end of September, the firm’s NRW level stood at 29.3 percent, down from 32.8 percent a year ago, Maynilad Chief Operating Officer Christopher Jaime Lichauco said in a briefing.
He said the target is to bring the level down to about 25 percent in 2027.
“It is our success in reducing non-revenue water that has really saved the day for us, and will continue to save the day for us despite the looming El Niño. From 2019 to today, we have recovered a total of 288 MLD (million liters per day),” he said, noting that this amount is equivalent to almost two treatment plants.
Maynilad President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramoncito Fernandez, during the same briefing, said additional measures will be in place in the next three months to help boost their water supply.
These measures include using a modular treatment plant in Molino, Cavite, operating the new water treatment facility in Pasay by next week, and using more deep wells.
“Of course, the reduction of NRW will continue. So, these are the main additional sources that we’re looking at,” he said.
To date, the company sources its water supply from the Putatan Water Treatment Plant (PWTP) 1 and 2, which draws water from Laguna Lake; the Parañaque New Water Treatment Plant, which draws water from the Parañaque Water Reclamation Facility; the Poblacion water treatment plan in Muntinlupa City;and the La Mesa Dam, through the La Mesa Treatment Plan 1 and 2, which gets water from Angat Dam in Bulacan.
“We will continue to reduce our dependency on Angat. Aside from this, we see the need to come up with a stronger south plant. Those three plants in Laguna Lake, we are currently upgrading them because of our lower NRW, so we can further bring more water to the north that is challenged by El Niño,” Lichauco said.
“Today, because of our lower NRW, we can channel 70 to 100 MLD to the north in case of any floods.”
The weather bureau expects the impact of the dry spell to last until the first quarter of 2027, further aggravating the temperature during the summer months.
End-third quarter performance
Meanwhile, lower interest expense and higher interest income lifted Maynilad’s net income in the first nine months of 2026, amid higher expenditures to improve services.
Revenues jumped 3.5 percent to PHP28.6 billion, attributed to the 2.8 percent increase in billed volume, a 2.85 percent rise in rate adjustment approved by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), and the increasing number of customers.
Capital expenditures rose 5.1 percent on an annual basis to PHP19.5 billion, driven by the investments in network efficiency, water service improvements, and wastewater coverage.
Service coverage improved to 95.2 percent, while the 24-hour water availability reached 94.5 percent.
Wastewater coverage rose to 95.7 percent from last year’s 90.4 percent. (Joann Santiago-Villanueva/PNA)
