San Miguel Corporation (SMC), through its Luzon Clean Water Development Corp. (LCWDC), will make available potable and affordable water from the Angat reservoir to more than 350,000 households in Bulacan by early 2025 as it starts implementation of Stage 3A of the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project (BBWSP) covering the water districts of Baliwag, Norzagaray, Hagonoy, Pandi, San Ildefonso, San Miguel, and San Rafael.
LCWDC will make available potable and affordable water from the Angat reservoir to more than 350,000 households in Bulacan by early 2025.
LCWDC and SMC Projects
LCWDC currently supplies treated bulk water to 13 water districts of Bulacan that, in turn, distribute to 220,000 households in cities and municipalities that include Balagtas, Bocaue, Marilao, City of Meycauayan, Obando, City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulakan, Calumpit, Guiginto, City of Malolos, Paombong, Plaridel, and Sta. Maria.
Read SMC’s Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project to provide access to potable, affordable water
It is worth noting that LCWDC has been providing Bulacan water districts with the lowest bulk water charge in the country at P9.66 per cubic meter or less than one centavo per liter.
Full completion of Stage 3 of the BBWSP will bring the total coverage of LCWDC to 24 areas in Bulacan.
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“With the growing population in the province, we expect a greater demand for water in the coming years. As such, our BBWSP teams are working double time to expand our coverage areas further to allow more households to benefit from the reliable, affordable, clean, and potable water supply. We still have a long way to go, given the delays brought about by the pandemic. Still, with the support of local government units, water districts, and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), we are confident we can meet our targets on time,” Ang said.
Ang added that SMC is committed to fulfilling the project’s objective to meet the increasing demand for potable, affordable, and reliable water without the adverse environmental impact of excessive groundwater extraction.
The Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project produces an average volume of 190 million liters per day and has a maximum capacity of 388 million liters per day.
The BBWSP is only one of SMC’s several water-related initiatives in recent years.
The Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project will provide treated bulk water to the various water districts (WDs) of Bulacan to help meet the increasing water demand of its consumers, expand its current service area coverage and increase the number of households served. This project started in January 2019 under the Duterte administration.
The private partner (LCWDC, San Miguel Holdings Inc., and Korea Water Resources Corporation) will undertake the financing, detailed design and construction, and maintenance of conveyance facilities, treatment facilities, and water sources.
The implementing agency of the project is the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which is under the Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Structure. The cooperation period is set for 30 years, including construction.
In 2017, SMC discontinued its bottled water business as part of efforts to reduce the company’s impact on the environment. The company also initiated a program to reduce its group-wide water use by 50 percent by 2025.
SMC also completed its P 1-billion Tullahan River cleanup last September, with 1.12 million tons of waste removed in just two years from the river. The company is also currently undertaking the P2-billion cleanup of the Pasig River to boost flood mitigation efforts in Metro Manila cities near the water tributary.
Read SMC’s Tullahan River Cleanup Project breaches 400k MT of solid wastes removed