A P50-billion waste water treatment program called the ‘Three River Master Plan’ may become the pivotal project that will give a lift to the perennial clean-up program for the stinking Pasig River.
A major investment program started by the Manila Water Company Inc. (MWCI) last year, the Three River Master Plan (TRMP) expects to receive a groundswell of support as the program will clean the waste water discharged into the metropolis’s three most polluted rivers. These are the rivers of Marikina, San Juan, and Pasig.
“When you try to revive Pasig River, it’s expected that this will be a multi-stakeholder approach (because this involves) informal settlement and solid waste (among others). Efforts have to be concerted. It’s not possible with Manila Water alone,” said Jeric T. Sevilla Jr., MWCI corporate communications head, in an interview.
Among the agencies MWCI is partnering with for the TRMP are the National Housing Authority and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
The cleanup of the waste water thrown into the three rivers will require the establishment of sewage treatment plants (STP) in strategic areas.
Aside from coordinating with many agencies that have long been involved in the Pasig River clean-up which is headed by the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), MWCI expects that Maynilad Water Services Inc. (MWSI) should also embark on a counterpart program on this.
MWCI only has jurisdiction over the East concession area while certain parts of the communities that discharge dirty water into Pasig River are covered by MWSI’s West concession area.
Sevilla said MWCI has identified 30 catchment basins within its concession area which are important in carrying out the program.
“At certain catchment areas, we will put up STPs so that the STPs will receive the water for treatment before discharging water into the river,” he said.
Along with the construction of intercepter systems that will collect the waste water, MWCI will put up 20 STPs. Five treatment facilities are expected to be completed this year which will raise its waste water treatment capacity to 93 million liters per day(MLD). The company treated 50 MLD of wastewater in 2009.
The TRMP is a 10-year program of MWCI originally set for completion by 2018. It should provide 100 percent waste water treatment capacity for three river system.
According to MWCI’s first-of-its-kind sustainability report, the TRMP will have an “ultimate impact” on the revival of the still heavily-polluted Manila Bay.
As MWCI has already established the infrastructure to deliver potable water to close to 100 percent of its customers within its concession area, it is now zeroing in on establishing STPs. This is really part of MWCI and MWSI’s mandate under their 1997 concession agreement with the government.
MWCI actually sees its waste water treatment program as part of a business plan that it can take advantage of amid the threatening climate change, the global phenomenon predicted to impact more adversely on developing countries of which the Philippines is a hotspot area.
