An official of First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) has warned of both environmental and business risks from the overextraction of groundwater, saying the practice is no longer sustainable.
Engr. Jeremaine Esguerra, head of FPIP’s water division, sounded the alarm during a presentation she made at a forum jointly organized by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, the United Nations Development Programme Philippines and FutureWater Asia.
“Water demand continues to rise as the population grows and industries expand,” Esguerra said in her presentation at the Manila forum held under the theme “Securing Water for Industry: Solutions for Economic Zones and Their Locators.”
Esguerra noted that “groundwater, which used to be abundant, is now in decline in terms of quality and quantity. And this is all because of aquifer overuse, volcanic activity and poor sanitation in surrounding areas.”
With water scarcity emerging as a serious national concern, Esguerra emphasized the importance of water circularity as a sustainable solution. Water circularity calls for managing water resources through methods and practices that minimize waste and maximize reuse.
The concurrent head of FPIP Utilities Inc. (FUI) said that the challenge of managing FPIP’s water resources is very clear to FPIP.
resources is very clear to FPIP. “That is why we planned our moves and committed ourselves to act, so we can regenerate resources and help secure water for both the present and future generations,” she stressed.
FUI is now constructing within FPIP’s 600-hetare ecozone in the cities of Santo Tomas and Tanauan in Batangas a state-of-the-art water treatment facility to ensure a reliable water supply for its current and future locators
as well as its other customers.
The project will not require the extraction of groundwater but will instead treat water flowing through FPIP from the San Juan River, one of the 21 tributaries of Laguna de Bay.
“Groundwater extraction has been a widespread practice around the world because it seems the easiest and most accessible solution to get water supply,” Esguerra said in a separate statement.
“But we have come to realize the harm the practice of groundwater extraction inflects not just on immediate-term business, but on the environment. And so, we are implementing the river water treatment project as a way to address the very pressing issue of groundwater depletion,” Esguerra explained.
Possible harmful effects of groundwater overextraction include land subsidence, which can damage infrastructure; saltwater intrusion, which can contaminate sources of drinking water; and the reduction of surface water supplies especially for irrigation, which in turn can lead to lower farm production.
“FPIP’s river water treatment facility is a testament to our commitment to change and our resolve to be an environmentally responsible organization. It is part of FPIP’s sustainability road map and a key step in our commitment to regeneration and decarbonization in support of the Lopez Group’s mission,” Esguerra stressed.
Targeted for completion in November 2025, the water treatment plant will have the capacity to extract from the San Juan River up to 20 million liters per day of water—or more than enough to meet the needs of FPIP’s over 80,000 employees.
FUI has tapped First Balfour, the Lopez Group’s construction and engineering arm, as construction partner for the state-of-the-art river water treatment facility.
The river water treatment project forms part of FPIP’s P4-billion integrated water management master plan that the company formulated in support of its water sustainability policy.
(Story by: Joel Gaborni)
