By Eileen Mencias
Former Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) chief regulator Eduardo Santos criticized the huge wastage of water in Maynilad Water Services Inc.’s concession area where non-revenue water (NRW) was reported at 45 percent at the end of 2021.
NRW or systems loss is water lost due to several factors such as pipe leaks, illegal connections, pilferages, and unauthorized use of fire hydrants.
“We would like to examine the non-revenue water. You were given the budget for that. We will investigate this, ” Santos said at the 6th rate rebasing public consultation held last July 20.
Maynilad, a partnership between Pangilinan-led infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and the Consunj family’s DMCI Holdings, planned to reduce its NRW to 27 percent in the last rebasing period but reported 45 percent instead.
This year, Maynilad is targeting to bring down the NRW level to only 44 percent, based on its submission to the MWSS Regulatory Office.
“If you use non-revenue water, you immediately convert it to supply. It takes three to five years before a new supply source becomes operational,” Santos said.
In its filing with the MWSS, Maynilad cited the need to reduce its NRW to provide customers with a continuous, 24-hour supply of water.
For 2022, Maynilad said it needs a total of 2.509 billion liters of water per day, with water demand pegged at 1.788 billion and NRW at 721 million liters per day.
Last year, Maynilad’s water losses stood at 1.168 billion liters per day.
Santos said his team would evaluate Maynilad’s cash flow, technical and financial performance, projects and investments, as well as its compliance to its service obligation.

