CEBU CITY – To help mitigate the scarcity of water supply in Cebu, an industry player is pushing for the use of desalination technology, which aims to make sourcing of water more convenient and cost-efficient.

“The Philippines has a lot of water sources aside from huge river banks.

Even stored rain water can be converted into purified fresh water safe for human consumption,” said Antonio Tompar, Chairman of Cebu-based water technology provider, Mactan Rock Industries Inc. (MRII).

The use of desalination technology has slowly taken off in the Philippines in the last few years, while cost of desalinated water has become competitive to that of water sourced traditionally, said Tompar in a recent interview.

Desalination refers to any of several processes that remove excess salt and other minerals from water. Water is desalinated in order to be converted to fresh water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on developing cost-effective ways of providing fresh water for human use in regions where the availability of fresh water is limited.

In Cebu, Tompar said there are a lot of water sources that can be utilized, as the desalination process will convert brackish water, lakes, seawater, and saline surface water into fresh water, which is now usually adopted by large companies, such as manufacturing firms and resorts, among others.

Tompar, whose company MRII and the Pilipinas Water Resources Incorporated had been providing desalinated water to several companies, said this technology, which has been considered as an expensive way of sourcing water in the past is now becoming very competitive because of modernized and improved machines which offer less power consumption.

“Unlike electricity, basic water necessity should not become a social problem in any locality,” he said.

MRII is now operating 30 desalination facilities in Cebu. The company is supplying a total of 40,000 cubic meters a day across the country.

The company is also utilizing surface water from river banks as another source of water supply for water districts and big industries.

The bulk, or 95 percent of water used by large properties in Cebu, including the Shangri-la Mactan Resort and Spa goes through a desalination system.

Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT) board member Gregg Gabison earlier stressed that in order for Cebu to remain globally competitive among foreign investors, it must continually seek to cushion future scarcity in water and power supply.

“Other than power, water supply shortage should be a major concern for authorities, if Cebu still wants to attract more investors,” Gabison underlined.