More wastewater treatment facilities will be built by Manila Water to assist in reducing pollution and ensuring public health.
East Zone concessionaire Manila Water said it would build more wastewater treatment plants-- a requirement in its concession agreement and for which it was fined by the Supreme Court for violating the Philippine Clean Water Code-- to ensure that domestic wastewater from households does not contribute to the pollution of rivers and other water bodies.
Manila Water serves parts of Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig, Marikina, most parts of Quezon City, portions of Manila, as well as several towns in Rizal.
“As Manila Water is committed to provide 24/7 clean and potable water to our customers, we are also focused on protecting the environment by making sure that we properly dispose, treat wastewater and its by-products, as these remain essential elements of our services.” Manila Water Wastewater Operations Head Donna Perez said.
The wastewater treatment plants shall employ various technologies through a variety of mechanisms and processes in order to treat wastes and pollution. Its wastewater management will include:
· Collection of sewage and septage from households and establishments
· Conveyance where treated wastewater is recycled back to the industries
· Full treatment
· Safe disposal of by-products
Manila Water also expanded its wastewater services to cover and benefit more areas and people in the East Zone, Inquirer reported.
Sewage treatment plant
The company's wastewater treatment capacity has increased by 925 percent, from 40 million liters per day (MLD) at the beginning of operations to 410 MLD at the present. From operating a single sewage treatment plant (STP) in 1997 to currently operating 41 treatment facilities.
The company is also set to build 12 more STPs to continue on fulfilling its mandate of providing sewerage and sanitation services and further improving the water environment in the metropolis thus, ensuring public health.
Manila Water plans to construct 53 wastewater facilities with a combined 1,156 MLD treatment capacity that will cover 100% of its concession area. This equates to a total of 715 kilometers of the sewer network in order to serve 7.6 million residents in the East Zone.
In recent years, Manila Water undertook a major project in compliance with Administrative Order (DAO) 2016-08 of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that included new parameters in biological nutrient removal (BNR) of Nitrogen and Phosphorus.
This entailed transferring flows from 11 smaller treatment facilities to larger ones and bringing enhanced activated sludge processing to 27 additional sites.
The General Effluent Standards for six parameters, including Ammonia and Phosphorus, were updated in the DAO 2021-19 last year. By June 2021, all 41 STPs operated by Manila Water would have complied with the new rule, removing 4,708 tons of nutrients annually.
Tags: #ManilaWater, #WasteWaterFacilities, #PublicHealth, #STP