MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. is allocating approximately P7.70 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this year to reduce nonrevenue water (NRW), or treated water lost due to leaks and other factors.
Maynilad said that under a business plan approved by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), P7.7 billion was allocated for its NRW management initiatives this year.
Most of the spending will be used to replace old pipes in its franchise area to reduce the NRW average to 29 percent by the end of 2026 from 34.9 percent last year.
“For this year, the pipe systems that we will mostly be focused on will be in Valenzuela to improve our NRW average. We will also have NRW projects in Manila, as well as in Pasay, Parañaque and also in Muntinlupa,” said Ryan Jamora, Central NRW head at Maynilad.
Under the approved business plan, Maynilad is targeting to cut the NRW level to 25 percent by 2027 and to 20 percent by 2030.
The West Zone water concessionaire said it also planned to expand leakage control activities and network diagnostics while continuing to evaluate emerging technologies designed to improve field response efficiency.
Other than leaks, unbilled water is also a result of pipe deterioration, commercial losses such as illegal connections and metering inaccuracies, as well as authorized but unbilled-use actions such as firefighting, public service connections and system maintenance activities.
Maynilad said it managed to recover 256 million liters per day from its NRW initiatives last year, enough to meet the daily needs of more than 1.6 million people.
The company’s shares on Tuesday shed P0.85, or 3.86 percent, to close at P21.15 apiece.