Fresh, potable water for NAIA

MANILA, Philippines — After 28 years of nothing but brackish water coming out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) taps, fresh potable water from Maynilad will soon be finally flowing into the premier airport.

Kudos to Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Honrado. His prompt actions led to the cancellation of a proposed revival of the deep well that used to provide the liquid for all of the NAIA’s needs.

The public may not be aware of it, but all that water gushing out of the deep wells of the NAIA for the last 28 years is tainted with salt water, unfit for drinking. The airport location tells it all. The surrounding areas used to be salt beds and seawater had penetrated the water table, hence its usefulness is limited to flushing toilets and cleaning purposes.

For all those years, potable water at the NAIA is commercially supplied by water distributors, in the form of “mineral” water in five-gallon plastic bottles.

The salty water has eaten away many portions of the pipes. Now, those pipes are leaking all over underground, disrupting the supply of the fluid to flush toilets and rinse them of their awful smell.

Last we heard, the MIAA and Maynilad had come to an agreement to tap the water main in Parañaque and get it connected to the NAIA. This will eventually solve the current water problem bugging the airport for years.

Last week of May, Maynilad sent a team to detect the leaks and assess the condition of the pipes. They found extensive damage in the system that needs to be replaced, some eight feet underground.

But instead of replacing them, the MIAA authorities came to the right conclusion – abandoning the deep wells and getting the fresh supply from Maynilad, the West Zone concessionaire, owned and managed by the Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

An official of the water company stressed the risks of using deep-well water.

“Water from most deep wells is not well treated or regularly monitored,” he said, while the water they supply passes through a stringent treatment process that the Health Department regularly checks for potability.

Maynilad is the concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area, comprised of seven cities and municipalities.

Honrado promised that fresh water supply will be available within two to three months, providing all toilets and other outlets with water 24 hours a day.