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Friday, September 02, 2005
Mayor to study ways to cut cost of desalination
To find ways of reducing the cost of operating a desalination plant, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and two officials from the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) will leave for Singapore to study other models, in an international conference next week.
They will be attending a six-day conference on desalination initiated by the International Desalination Association from Sept. 11 to 16.
Cebu City officials have been discussing since 2001 with various sectors ideas on where to get water for the South Reclamation Project (SRP).
The mayor said he wants to be exposed more to other models, so the City can produce water to be used by prospective locators of the 295-hectare property.
He lamented that most of the offers the City is getting are “outrageously expensive.”
High costs
According to a working paper on the “economics of desalination and its potential application in Australia” published on the website of Sustainability and Economics in Agriculture, desalination processes entail capital, and high operating and maintenance costs because these need fuel.
The activity will be held in cooperation with Public Utilities Board, Ministry of the Environment, Singapore Tourism Board, Nanyang Technology University, National University of Singapore and Singapore Utilities International Ltd.
As earlier proposed by the Local Development Council (LDC), the City Government might want to convert storm water from the unfilled 62-hectare Pond A of the SRP into brackish water, which can cost much less to process into affordable desalinated waters.
Fr. Mar Alingasa of the LDC environmental sub-committee has said this could be done if all storm water flow in the SRP is directed to the pond.
Jacked up price
In one of the LDC assemblies in 2003, the mayor informed its members that the use of technology to convert pure seawater was feasible, only that the City’s contractor for the SRP horizontal development “jacked up” the price.
He said that after the contract for a desalination plant was cancelled, he looked for a local supplier that will use reverse osmosis.
The City already constructed a desalination plant and a sewage plant that use the activated sludge process with membrane.
According to a presentation made by engineer Arnold Fabillar of the SRP project management office last month, the desalination plant uses reverse osmosis technology and can convert 500 cubic meters of seawater to potable water each day.
The sewage treatment plant, on the other hand, has a capacity of 1,200 cu. m. per day, treating wastewater so that it can be recycled for use in companies that will set up shop in the area. (GAC)
(September 2, 2005 issue)
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