West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) has plugged more than 28,000 pipe leaks in the first half of 2024, bringing the company’s total number of leaks repaired to 523,111 since 2007 when it inherited one of the oldest pipe networks in Asia upon re-privatization.

Plugging these leaks enabled Maynilad to recover in the first half of 2024 around 198 million liters of water per day, which is enough to supply the requirements of some 198,000 people. Maynilad aims to repair a total of 50,000 pipe leaks throughout its concession within 2024—its highest-ever annual target.

The repair of leaks in the distribution system is a major component of Maynilad’s Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Management Program, which seeks to bring down physical and commercial water losses.

For 2024 alone, Maynilad allotted P791 million for active leakage control. The company has increased its manpower complement so it can deploy more teams to conduct leak detection activities simultaneously over a wider area and to speed up the fixing of leaks.

Maynilad has also begun using artificial intelligence for detecting pipe leaks and for monitoring pipe conditions so it can proactively replace pipelines even before breakage occurs.

“Bringing down water losses is a task that we take very seriously, reason why we have dedicated more resources and tapped new technologies to find and plug leaks in the system. The public can also help in this effort by actively reporting pipe leaks and illegal connections to Maynilad,” said Maynilad’s Central NRW division head, Engr. Ryan B. Jamora.

Aside from leak detection and repair, other activities under Maynilad’s NRW Management Program include network diagnostics, establishment of District Metered Areas, replacement of old water meters, selective pipe replacement, installation of pressure-regulating valves, and anti-water pilferage drive.

Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire of Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) in the Philippines in terms of customer base. Its service area includes the cities of Manila (all but portions of San Andres and Sta. Ana), Quezon City, Makati Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas, and Malabon, all in Metro Manila; and the cities of Cavite, Bacoor, and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta, and Rosario, all in the province of Cavite.