In celebration of World Water Day, PrimeWater Infrastructure Corporation shares its accomplishments on water supply and distribution in their served areas in San Pedro City, Laguna. The partnership of PrimeWater and San Pedro City Water District (SPWD) beginning in 2015 is highlighted by its non-stop rehabilitation, replacement, and expansion of pipelines as old as 33-years-old, to serve its 35,000 concessionaires in San Pedro, Laguna.
Recovery of 4.1 million liters of water per day (MLD) from water losses
Water is an essential need and access to safe clean drinking water and sanitation are internationally recognized human rights according to the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
In the Philippines, the growing population, migration, and economic growth continue to outpace the availability of water as in the case of San Pedro which according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, doubled the population from the 1990s to its population today.
One of the major accomplishments achieved by the partnership is the recovery of water amounting to 4.1 MLD which is almost equivalent to the size of one-and-a-half Olympic pool volume of water that used to be wasted in losses due to leakages, illegal service connections, and malfunctioning water meters. A significant decrease from 25.38% to 13.59% of water has been recovered from these water losses or what is referred to as Non-Revenue Water (NRW) resulting in the recovery of additional water supply to consumers in the city.
Pipe expansion and replacement
In addition to the joint efforts to reduce NRW, PrimeWater, and SPWD have also expanded 13,649 linear meters of new pipelines in 11 barangays, specifically in Barangay Calendola, Cuyab, Landayan, Langgam, Laram, Magsaysay, Narra, Nueva, Pacita 2, San Antonio, and Sto. Niño and have benefitted almost 4,261 households in the said areas.
“The efforts to reduce the NRW in San Pedro City significantly helped in fulfilling the gap of water supply and needs of our consumers. After improving water availability, ensuring that water supply reaches the households is another challenge, particularly for the many elevated areas in the city, and this is where PrimeWater and SPWD continuously work on the pipe network,” emphasizes Engr. Niel Bautista, PrimeWater Operations Head for Laguna and Cavite.
A total of 4,756 linear meters of pipelines were also replaced in the elevated areas of San Pedro, particularly in Barangay Riverside, San Antonio (Upper), United Bayanihan, San Vicente (BayanBayanan), and Bagong Silang. As part of service improvement, leak detection, and repairs are also continuous. Currently, a total of 29,175 waterline leakages were repaired across San Pedro City.
Continuous source development
Alongside pipeline improvements, other major projects were also completed. To date, 12 water sources were developed across the city producing 24 million liters per day of water and two (2) reservoirs are operational. The Magsaysay Booster Station stores 1 million liters of water while Central Booster Station has a 1.5-million liters capacity serving 7,000 families at Barangay Magsaysay, United bayanihan, Bagong Silang, Calendola, Riverside, Estrella, United Better Living, Narra, Laram, Langgam, San Vicente (Bayan-Bayanan) and San Antonio (Upper).
As of now, there is an ongoing 2,400 linear meters pipeline replacement from Southville to BayanBayanan and 985 linear meters pipelaying at Villa Castillo Subdivision and along the Camella Cuyab area. These additional waterline improvement projects are expected to be completed within the year to benefit consumers in the specific area.
“There are still a lot of challenges in our served areas and there is no overnight solution. Rest assured PrimeWater and SPWD will continue to strengthen services and work tirelessly to ensure that water supply and distribution are sustainably managed for the benefit of our served areas in San Pedro,” concludes Atty Cezar Ong, PrimeWater AVP for JV Operations.
