[ Manila Bulletn Online ] July 17, 2008
By MELODY M. AGUIBA
The Manila Water Company Inc. (MWCI) is coming up with a new master plan for a sewerage program which will raise sewerage system coverage in Metro Manila up to 63 percent in 2022 through a combined decentralized system and a desludging tie-up with the local governments.
The program will be part of the Manila Third Sewerage Project (MTSP) which over the shorter period aims to raise by 30 percent sewerage coverage in Metro Manila by 2010.
"Manila Water is now reformulating its master plan for the sewerage program. This decentralized sewerage approach will be implemented through a package of wastewater treatment systems, such as on-site wastewater treatment plants for medium and high-rise housing establishments or communities, and by rehabilitating and taking over existing sewerage systems for certain areas," said MWCI in a statement.
Under the Manila Second Sewerage Project, implemented from 2000 to 2005, MWCI has enabled construction of 27 sewage treatment plants.
"More than 40,000 people now benefit from these facilities which cost over P150 million," it said.
There has been an increasing awareness for the Philippines, particularly Metro Manila, to carry out programs that will treat waste water coming from industrial and household sources considering the impact of polluted water on the aquifer and the environment as a whole.
MWCI noted that as of 1997, sewerage in Metro Manila was one of the worst in Asia during which coverage was only at three percent. That abject status of the absence of waste water treatment facilities is causing pollution of river systems.
