East zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc. said its system losses or non-revenue water (NRW) remained below 15 percent in the first half of 2024 due to its quick leak response and methodical monitoring of water network.
The water and wastewater service provider manages 5,486.87 kilometers of water network in its concession area.
Distribution management includes regular preventive maintenance, cracking down on illegal connections and meter tampering and swiftly repairing breakages, it said.
The company said it repaired 198 mainline breakages in the first half of 2024, all done within 24 hours to curtail impact to customers and minimize water wastage.
It said preventive maintenance activities and emergency repairs are usually done at nighttime to minimize disruption and inconvenience to its customers’ daily activities.
“Having a robust network monitoring system coupled with a competent quick response team and strong community engagement are some of the best tools the company has in combating water loss. We appreciate customers reporting leaks, illegal connections, and meter theft and tampering. These are valuable customer initiatives that help the company keep system losses at manageable levels,” Manila Water corporate communication affairs group director Jeric Sevilla said.
The company’s average NRW was at 13.57 percent of June 2024. Manila Water’s NRW improved to 12.94 percent in June compared to 13.92 percent a year ago.
NRW is water that is lost due to leaks and illegal connections. Lower NRW means more water to be distributed to more customers. An improvement of just 1 percent means an additional 80,000 customers get served.
Manila Water’s NRW average sits well below the World Bank Standard of 25 percent and is one of the lowest in Asia.
