Desalination seen as a ‘stopgap’ to Cebu’s water supply needs

FILE PHOTO | Courtesy of MCWD

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Finding a long-term solution to Cebu’s need for additional water supply is something that will not be realized in the next few years.

With this, “stopgap” measures are needed to make sure that every Cebuano household will continue to have water for their use.

One of the identified stopgap measures is the use of desalinated water as an additional source for the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD).

Vivant Hydrocore Holdings Inc. (Vivant Water), the water infrastructure unit of Cebu-based conglomerate Vivant Corp., has made a commitment to supply 20 million liters of clean and potable water per day to MCWD as soon as their desalination plant located in Brgy. Catarman, Cordova town starts to operate before the year ends.

This will serve at least 10 percent of water district’s daily water requirement, according to Lawyer Jess Garcia, vice president for Vivant Water.

Garcia said in a recent interview that they were already in the testing and commission stage, “connecting to MCWD and testing supply to the network to see what the impact is and in a couple of months we plan to start with commercial operations.”

Higher cost

In April, Vivant Water signed a 25-year Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with MCWD.

Vivant Water through its subsidiary, Isla Mactan Cordova Corp. (IMCC), is the first company in the country to develop a utility scale seawater desalination plant.

Arlo Sarmiento, Vivant’s chief executive officer (CEO), admitted that there was a higher cost to pay for using desalinated water because of the technology that they used.  However, it is not something that people should fear because such cost remains affordable and will be subjected to the review and supervision of government regulators.

“You will have to pay for it anyway at some point in time….. Right now, you pay for the alternative cost to get water kay dili man ta mabuhi og way tubig (because we cannot live without water). We have to pay for it,” Garcia also said.

Garcia said desalination would be the best stopgap for Cebu for now.

Maybe in the future, they would also look into the possibility of operating a waste water treatment facility here, but this is going to be more expensive than desalination.  In addition, there is also the need to overcome a “psychological barrier” in order to convince people to use treated wastewater.

Supply shortage

Sarmiento likened Cebu’s water shortage to the power supply shortage that was experienced between 2002 and 2003, which resulted in power interruptions and which forced businesses to venture into diesel plants to produce more electricity.

“When people experienced 24/7 service, people understood [the need for the additional cost] as long as it’s a fair price. And the regulators are on top of the pricing.  It’s the same way we are looking at desalination. We believe the regulators will understand and eventually the consumers will understand that it’s necessary,” he said.

Garcia said that while desalinated water might cost more than surface and groundwater water, this remained cheaper in comparison with bottled water and those that were delivered to some Cebuano homes via water tanks.

He said that tanked water would normally cost P2,000 per cubic meter while bottled water cost about P20,000 per cubic meter.

Desalinated water, on the other hand, cost less than P80 per cubic meter “so that is not even close.”

Stopgap measure

Garcia said that having a stopgap measure, like desalination, to address water concerns, would be beneficial to consumers as businesses and the government continue to look for better and long-term solutions to Cebu’s water supply needs.

“This gives business and government time to solve the problem without interrupting service to our consumers,” he said.

A possible long-term solution, Garcia said, would be for Cebu to get water from Bohol province through pipelines.

He said that finding a long-term solution, might also eventually bring down the cost of water, but this would take time to implement.

“That’s very long term. In the meantime, there is a supply gap that we need to fill,” Garcia said.