Manila Water Company Inc., a unit of conglomerate Ayala Corp., said Tuesday it successfully completed a pilot project in Yangon City, Myanmar, significantly reducing the level of water system loss from over 54 percent to 14 percent.
The pilot project, in partnership with Mitsubishi Corp. and Yangon City Development Committee, was conducted in the townships of Insein and South Okkalapa in Yangon
The project included the formation of district metering areas, technical and non-technical surveys and system loss, or non-revenue water.
Non-revenue water in Htan Pin Gone in Insein Township was trimmed to 17.32 percent in August last year from 52 percent in March. Similar leak reduction efforts in South Okkalapa township resulted in a decreased level of 12.19 percent by November 2016 from the initial 57 percent.
Water recovered was brought back in the system, increasing water pressure by 2 psi and improving access to water supply of the estimated 4,000 residents of the project areas.
Registered billed volume has doubled with the replacement of water meters, increasing revenues for the Yangon City Development Committee, the administrative body responsible for water management in Yangon City.
Manila Water Asia Pacific president and chief executive Virgilio Rivera Jr. said the pilot program demonstrated that the company had the understanding, expertise and experience to support YCDC to deliver sustainable water services.
“We are excited to note that YCDC, under the leadership of (Mayor) U Maung Maung Soe, is interested in co-developing a plan under PPP to address further reduction of non-revenue water on a larger scale and deliver piped potable water supply at reasonable cost to the public,” said Rivera.
The pilot project is part of an agreement signed by Manila Water, Mitsubishi and YCDC in 2014 to address the needs of the city’s water system.
Manila Water in Metro Manila provides clean and potable water to customer by rehabilitating an old water system of a densely populated city. It has successfully reduced eastern Metro Manila’s system loss to 11 percent from a high of 63 percent during the start of the concession period.