DENR eyes desalination process to provide clean water to isolated areas

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MANILA, Philippines — The government is eyeing the use of modular desalination process to provide formal water systems in isolated islands, according to an official from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Tuesday.

A desalination system could convert saltwater into potable water. During a Palace briefing, DENR Undersecretary for Integrated Environmental Science Carlos David said that traditional desalination systems are expensive and require large volumes of water.

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“But over the years, the technology has improved tremendously and now we have what are called the modular desalination systems — they are as big as a container van and it can provide water to up to around 500 families in each and every desalination plant,” said David in a mix of English and Filipino.

David reported to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that 40 million Filipinos did not have access to formal water sources. The President ordered the DENR to focus on the underserved population.

Marcos did not give a timeline as to when to implement the desalination systems, there are 65 barangays on the government’s priority list, said David.

The DENR official said each unit costs around P5 million to P8 million, depending on the number of people it will serve.

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Asked how long it would take to put up the modular desalination systems, David said that it could take within four weeks.

“We were looking for suppliers from Israel, Netherlands, Singapore and I was pleasantly surprised that we have four companies that have the technical capabilities to implement these kinds of projects,” said David.