Around 900 poor families along the coastline of Manila Bay in Navotas celebrated the arrival of affordable, reliable and safe drinking water in their communities after Maynilad — the private water concessionaire for the West Zone – partnered with Streams of Knowledge, a non government organization that advocates sustainable implementation of water projects in poor communities.
Co-financed by Maynilad and Streams of Knowledge, the P1.43 million water supply project involved the installation of a bulk water system with two mother meters in Pitong Gatang and Davila in Brgy. Sipac Almacen, Navotas. Streams of Knowledge manages and operates the internal water system.
Maynilad offered bulk selling to the marginalized communities so they, too, can have access to clean water despite their limited finances. The water concessionaire also gave the low income residents a 20% tariff reduction for their water consumption.
Providing the communities with access to clean water proved to be challenging for Maynilad as the residents were living in makeshift shelters propped on stilts along the shore. To address the difficulty in laying pipes in the area, Maynilad engineers had to extend a far-off mainline and implement the looping of several pipelines. Maynilad also had to install “Temfacil” (temporary facilities) pipes in narrow alleys within the communities.
Deteriorating pipes and illegal connections in the area also called for a massive rehabilitation of the water distribution system. Clustering of water meters was done to eliminate illegal connections and replace deteriorated water service connections, which include defective water meters.
Since January 2007, around 110,000 low-income families in the West Zone have benefitted from various initiatives by Maynilad to provide the poor with cheap and potable water.
