The Regulatory Office (RO) of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) recently conducted random raw and treated water sampling at the Maynilad Putatan Water Treatment Plant in Muntinlupa City. This activity is part of MWSS RO’s continuing effort to ensure that millions of Metro Manila residents have access to safe drinking water.

Acting Chief Regulator, lawyer Emmanuel Caparas, explained that the MWSS RO is determined to strengthen its service commitment to the public, saying that providing Filipinos access to clean water is a primary concern of MWSS and the two water concessionaires.

Principal chemist Isabel Bagaporo of MWSS RO Water Quality Control Department, headed the raw and treated water sampling of Maynilad’s water treatment facility. “The Regulatory Office has been very active in conducting water quality monitoring to address public health concerns regarding  contaminated drinking water,” Bagaporo said.

She explained that the random sampling is part of the MWSS’s regular water quality monitoring program to guarantee public access to safe drinking water.

Both water concessionaires in Metro Manila are mandated to comply with the standards for safety water transmission, treatment and distribution processes set in the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water issued by the Department of Health, the lead agency tasked to implement the Sanitation Code of the Philippines.

The Putatan Water Treatment Plant was unveiled in February 2011 and currently supplies 100 million litters per day of potable water to nearly 1.2 million customers in the South. It was the first water treatment facility of West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. that tapped into Laguna Lake as an alternative water source to Angat Dam.