San Miguel Corporation (SMC), through its Luzon Clean Water Development Corp. (LCWDC), will make available 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).
The project covers the water districts of Baliwag, Norzagaray, Hagonoy, Pandi, San Ildefonso, San Miguel and San Rafael.
LCWDC supplies treated bulk water to 13 water districts of Bulacan that, in turn, distribute to 220,000 households in Balagtas, Bocaue, Marilao, City of Meycauayan, Obando, City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulakan, Calumpit, Guiginto, City of Malolos, Paombong, Plaridel and Sta. Maria.
The LCWDC extends the Bulacan water districts with the lowest bulk water charge of only P9.66 per cubic meter or less than 1 centavo per liter.
Full completion of Stage 3 of the project will bring the total LCWDC coverage to 24 areas in Bulacan.
“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 further expand our coverage areas to allow more households to benefit from reliable, affordable, clean, and potable supply of water. We still have a long way to go given the delays brought about by the pandemic, but 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 also commits to meet the rising demand for potable, affordable, and reliable water without the adverse environmental impact caused by 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.
In 2017, SMC discontinued its bottled water business to reduce its impact on the environment and cut its group-wide water use by 50 percent by 2025.
SMC also completed its P1-billion Tullahan River cleanup last September with 1.12 million tons of wastes removed in just two years. The company is undertaking a P2-billion cleanup of the Pasig River to boost flood mitigation efforts in Metro Manila cities located near the water tributary.
