The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) plans to coordinate with Metro Manila’s primary water concessionaires to process rainwater stored in flood control detention basins into drinking water, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon announced Thursday.

Dizon said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed the agency to partner with Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. to channel impounded rainwater into treatment facilities for household use.

“We will ask the help of our water concessionaires to get these stored waters to be used as potable water,” Dizon said during an inspection at EDSA-Balintawak.

“So the stored water won’t go to waste by being dumped into estuaries. We will be able to help with flood problems and at the same time utilize that water for household use,” he added.

The DPWH chief inspected the Balintawak area under presidential directives to address recurring flood issues along EDSA.

As part of the flood management strategy, Dizon announced plans to construct a underground detention basin near the Andres Bonifacio monument in Caloocan City, supported by tollway operator NLEX Corp.

Dizon said the project’s size will depend on right-of-way acquisitions, but expected it to reach at least half the capacity of the Bonifacio Global City detention basin in Taguig, which can store up to 22,000 cubic meters of rainwater.

“This is very important because it solves not just the EDSA flooding here but also all the way down to G. Araneta Avenue,” Dizon said.

The Quezon City local government is collaborating with the DPWH on the facility’s engineering design and right-of-way acquisition.