MANILA, Philippines — Building desalination plants to supply water to Metro Manila consumers will entail higher costs, according to a top official of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).
“The position of the government is we are open to all of these new technologies. However, we have to factor in the costs,” MWSS chief regulator Patrick Ty said at the Discussing Desalination: A Reliable, Sustainable, and Affordable Water Supply webinar of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.
“We have to remember that the Philippines is still a developing country and we do not have the resources of countries like Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong,” Ty said, referring to countries that have desalination plants.
Desalination is the process of removing salt from seawater to make it into potable water that is safe for human consumption.
“Based on our studies, it’s still going to be too expensive for a regular Filipino family to pay for desalinated water. That’s the biggest pushback that we are experiencing right now,” Ty said.
Ty said the government continues to look at other water sources, among which are treatment options for water from the Laguna Lake.
Cliff Stone, water operations and business development director of Spanish conglomerate Acciona, cited data from the Middle East which showed that the cost of producing water through desalination would amount to less than $1 per cubic meter.
While the average tap water cost in Metro Manila would be cheaper, Stone said the desalination offers a more affordable cost to bottled water in the city, which on average costs $1 dollar for five liters.
“Once that cost goes down significantly and makes it more affordable for our regular Filipino family, then we will be looking at it more,” Ty said.
He said the government continues to study and monitor technologies, such as desalination, which would make water supply more reliable.
Should the country’s capital eventually adopt desalination, Ty said this would only be applicable to the West Zone service area of Metro Manila, which is the concession area of Maynilad Water Services Inc.
“Right now to be honest, desalination is limited only to Maynilad’s side.The western portion is the one exposed to the sea, so they are in the more optimal location – and they are looking at it right now. and they are observing if the cost will go down significantly,”Ty said.
While it is unlikely for Metro Manila to adopt desalination at the moment, Ty said that other areas in the country, particularly Cebu, may be in a better position to use the technology.
“It has a population big enough and has the purchasing capacity to pay.So maybe it might start in Cebu before Metro Manila,” Ty said.