Manila Water keeps leakage, losses low in H1

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Water Co. Inc. kept its non-revenue water (NRW) or system losses below 15 percent in the first half, providing uninterrupted water supply to its over seven million customers in the East Zone concession.

The listed water utility firm said its NRW during the six-month period stood at 13.57 percent, well below the World Bank standard of 25 percent.

In June alone, the NRW improved to 12.94 percent compared to the 13.92 percent recorded in the same period last year.

NRW refers to the water that is lost due to leaks and illegal connections.

A lower NRW means more water would be distributed to customers. An improvement of one percent in NRW is equivalent to an additional 80,000 customers being served by the water utility firm.

The company attributed the low NRW to its quick leak response “methodical” monitoring of its water network.

Manila Water said it repaired 198 mainline breakages, all within 24 hours, in the first half across its 5,486.87 kilometers of water network in its concession area.

Aside from repairs, the company added that it regularly conducts preventive maintenance, cracking down on illegal connections and meter tampering.

The preventive maintenance and emergency repairs were done at night to minimize service disruption and inconvenience to its customers’ daily activities, the firm added.

“Having a robust network monitoring system coupled with a competent quick response team and strong community engagement are some of the best tools the company has in combating water loss,” Manila Water’s Corporate Communication Affairs group director Jeric Sevilla said yesterday.

“We appreciate customers reporting leaks, illegal connections and meter theft and tampering. These are valuable customer initiatives that help the company keep system losses at manageable levels,” Sevilla added.

Earlier, the East Zone concessionaire said that it successfully installed 14,125 new water connections and 4,172 new sewer accounts in the first half.

“The first six months of this year saw an upswing in new domestic connections, which clocked in at 13,684. Industrial and commercial connections also climbed, with 442 new installations also in just the first half of this year,” it said.

At the end of June, the water utility firm had a total of 1.182 million water service connections in the East Zones, covering over 7.7 million customers.