DENR keen on Israeli technology for water supply in island barangays

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is keen on adopting Israeli technology to provide affordable and accessible water to some 65-island barangays whose residents do not have sustainable water supply.

Environment Undersecretary Carlos Primo David said the department is looking at Israeli technology to bankroll a project that would supply potable water to residents of the island barangays through desalination.

David said they are looking at an Israeli company that could make the desalination technology more affordable and suitable to smaller areas since such process is quite expensive.

David added that they are looking at an indicative project cost between P6 million and P8 million per island barangay.

“So far the only thing that will work (in the islands barangays) is desalination (but) getting sea water and converting to freshwater is expensive,” he said in a recent roundtable discussion with Israel Ambassador Ilan Fluss.

“We (want to) have the same technology and downscale it to just for a barangay and minimize the cost to make it affordable. We are exploring a company from Israel to provide that technology,” he added.

David said a local water district in the identified island barangay would oversee the desalination project.

If there is no water district yet, then the project will be undertaken by the local government unit in partnership with the DENR, David added.

According to David, the project will not be a grant to the identified island-barangay beneficiaries.

Instead, the water district or the local government unit will charge an indicative price of P10 per 20 liters, which David pointed out is cheaper than the prevailing market price of P30 to P35 per 20 liters.

David added that the collected water payments from the island barangay residents would be used to sustain the operations of the projects including necessary repairs and operating costs.

David said the DENR hopes to start the project this year through funding from private foundations.

“Hopefully next year we will have the budget, the government funds later on, (to finance the project),” he said.

Some of the identified island barangays are in Northern Bohol, Sulu Sea, Tawi-Tawi and Pangasinan, David said.

The only source of freshwater of the residents of the island barangays, which range from 300 to 1,000 per barangay, is rainfall, David added.

During the dry season, the residents have to go to the next “big” island just to buy water, which is more expensive than the water sold in Metro Manila.

“These are small barangays mostly fisherfolk with population of 300 to 1,000 (each). Their only source of freshwater is rainfall. They are isolated, poor fisherfolk with no supply of water,” he said.